Second Chances Revised Edition
by WindyCity96
Summary: (Sequel to Operation Parent Trap) The same day Bobbi finds out she's pregnant, she finds the time-traveling children of SHIELD and the Avengers, including her and Clint's yet to be born son. When the children run off to escape a strange and powerful enemy hot on their trail, the Avengers and the agents of SHIELD must band together to protect the next generation.
1. Chapter 1

"No." Bobbi Morse stood with Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons in the SHIELD lab early that morning, a single word stuck on her lips. "No."

"Bobbi, the test is positive," the biochemist assured her "I checked the results three times."

"No. No that, that can't be right. Take it again."

"Again?"

"Yes Daisy. Again," Bobbi snapped, giving the Inhuman an icy glare "That last test can't be right."

"Bobbi."

"There has to be some mistake." Bobbi's lungs screamed for air. Her heart pounded like gunfire. To put it simply, she was freaking out. "The test has to be wrong. There is no way that I am-,"

"Bobbi!" Daisy grabbed the blonde agent by her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "That was the third test," she reminded in a gentle, calming voice "and they all say the same thing. You're pregnant."

Finally letting it sink in, Bobbi let out a gasp as she leaned against the wall, her face in absolute shock. "What am I going to do?"

"I'm guessing this wasn't exactly a planned pregnancy?" Simmons assumed.

"Bobbi, if you're worried about Clint being there for you, you're not alone in this." Daisy assured her.

"It's not that." Bobbi sighed as she ran her fingers over the Mockingbird charm around her neck, remembering her brief marriage with the Avenger known as Hawkeye. Even though they were divorced, they had never stopped loving each other. And for the past three months, they had been trying to reconnect. "October 12th," she whispered.

"What?"

"Back when Clint and I were married I got pregnant," Bobbi explained "And about halfway through I….miscarried."

Simmons gasped. "Oh my God."

"It was during the second trimester. We were just about to find out if…if it was a boy or a girl." Bobbi took a shaky breath as she fought to keep her voice level "Clint was so ready to be a dad. He tore up his den and turned it into a nursery. Spent months trying to find the right crib." Bobbi swallowed a lump in her throat as tears glistened in her eyes "I'm not worried about Clint not wanting the baby. I'm worried about getting his hopes up on a dream that might not come true."

"Hey." Fitz frowned as he when saw the solemn faces on the young women of SHIELD as he walked in. "You guys alright?"

"Yeah," Bobbi took a sharp breath as she quickly dried her eyes. "You need something, Fitz?"

"Not me, Coulson. He's got a mission for us."

* * *

The agents of SHIELD stood huddled together around in Coulson's office, the Director of SHIELD wearing a dark blue button-up, black jeans and black leather boots. "This just came in on our satellites. Looks like some enhanceds had a fight not too far from one of our safe houses."

Daisy frowned as the image came onto the screen. "Isn't that the cabin you had me stay in when you found out I was Inhuman?"

"The very same."

"What do we know about the enhanceds?" Bobbi inquired.

"We caught one of the parties on the satellites. An old friend," Coulson quickly pulled up the image on the monitor "Maybe you've heard of him."

Daisy's eyes widened she recognized the familiar face instantly. "That's Iron Man."

* * *

The SHIELD agents quickly arrived at the safehouse, the surrounding area decimated. Mile-wide craters scarred the ground. Trees were cut in half and ripped clean from the ground. The scent of smoke lingering in the air.

Fitz whistled. "Some fight."

"Whoever attacked Stark sure didn't pull any punches," Mack commented.

"Are we sure about this?" Hunter asked nervously "If Iron Man was just here, doesn't that mean that the rest of the Avengers will be here soon? Along with just about every media outlet known to man?"

"Relax, Hunter. Hill's buying us time," Bobbi reassured.

"I'm just saying, not all of us have an Avenger for a significant oth-Aaah!" The former mercenary's words turned a panicked scream as he stepped on a hidden tripwire, causing a camouflaged net to snap up and suspend him in the air.

"Hunter!" Bobbi shouted "Are you okay?"

"I think so," he confirmed, mentally reprimanding himself for falling for such a obsolete trap.

_BOOP! BOOP! BOOP!_

The Agents of SHIELD quickly became on high alert as a blaring alarm rang throughout the woods, a series of red and white _Stark Industries _RC drones flying into view. The agents of SHIELD quickly opened fire, the bullets bouncing off harmlessly as the drones unleashed a barrage of brightly colored paintballs.

Mack quickly dropped his weapon as one of the paintballs landed on the barrel of his gun, the pistol quickly becoming hot as it turned into a puddle of bubbling goo. "Since when does paint melt metal?"

_SWOOSH!_

A bright red disc came flying through the air, knocking Lincoln Campbell into the side of the Zephyr.

"Lincoln!" Daisy barreled over to the electric Inhuman's side, sliding across the dirt as she used her powers to knock one of the drones out of the air with a sonic blast. "Are you alright?"

"That depends. Did Captain America just try to kill me?"

"ICRs only!" Bobbi ordered "We don't want to cause any serious injuries."

"Brilliant idea Bobbi," Hunter remarked, impatiently waiting for May to cut him free from the net "Let's all just pull our punches while the bloody _Avengers try to kill us!_"

Only Bobbi wasn't so sure it was Avengers. Toy drones and paintballs? The blonde-haired agent ducked as the shield made another run through the air, bouncing off the wings of the jet and into the bushes in the distance. Bobbi frowned. Steve would have to be on his knees to throw his shield from that angle. "I got movement," she announced, noticing a small figure running through the trees. "I'm going after them."

_POP!_

Bobbi stopped dead in her tracks as she stepped on a hidden button in the grass, causing a six foot tall, bright red action figure to appear out of thin air. Baymax, the flagship character of the film _Big Hero Six._

"Hi there."

Bobbi tucked and rolled as Baymax swung at her with his massive plastic fist, popping up on one knee and firing three bullets into its chest, only for them to prove just as ineffective against the drones.

"Are you satisfied with your care?" Baymax asked.

_VOOM!_

The enlarged action figure was sent flying as Daisy hit him with a sonic blast, the female Inhuman sending it crashing into a tree. "What you waiting for? Let's get them."

The two female specialists took off into the woods with Fitz and Simmons behind them, the unseen attacker staying just out of sight. None of this made any sense to Bobbi. Whoever this person was had skill, that was clear. But filling the woods with weaponized toys? It was like something out of a _Home Alone _movie.

_THWIP!_

Bobbi, Fitz and Simmons stopped moving as Daisy stepped on a makeshift landmine, the female Inhuman now trapped in a net of a sticky, web-like substance.

Bobbi's eyes widened. She and had seen a trap like that before. Now it all made sense.

_SWOOSH!_

Bobbi quickly whipped around and caught the whizzing shield as it flew by her, silently confirming her theory as she finally got a good look at it. This was not Captain America's vibranium shield. This was a scaled down, rubber replica. A toy. "James!"

At that moment, the rustling in the trees came to a stop, a tense silence filling the air.

"James," Bobbi repeated "is that you?"

"Bobbi," Simmons gave her friend a disbelieving look "You can't really think it's-,"

"Yeah, I do."

"It can't be," Fitz disputed "There's no way he'd do this again."

"What are you guys doing?" Daisy hissed "Get me out of here!"

But Bobbi wasn't listening. Maybe it was her developing maternal instincts kicking in, but she knew who was behind this and no one could convince her otherwise. "James? it's Aunt Bobbi. Come on out," she coaxed "no one's going to hurt you."

After a moment of silence, a blue-eyed boy with bright red hair stepped out from behind the trees, dressed in a grey t-shirt, camo-print pants and bright red Stark-brand sneakers. "Hi Aunt Bobbi."

"Hey kiddo."

Daisy could hardly believe her eyes. "A kid? We got our butts handed to us by a kid?"

Simmons stared at the boy in awe. "It can't be."

"What are you doing here?" Fitz demanded.

"Right now, appreciating the fact you guys actually recognize me."

"Somebody want to clue me in here?" Daisy demanded.

"You remember that mission FitzSimmons and I took to New York?" Bobbi asked.

"You mean the one where you all got to go Avenges Tower while I was stuck in quarantine for being an Inhuman?" Daisy gripped.

"Here's why. Daisy, meet James Rogers," Bobbi introduced "He's the son of Captain America and Black Widow. And he's from the future."

* * *

"It's been a while since we've seen you." Bobbi tilted her head to the side as she noticed "You're taller."

"I'm thirteen now."

"So it only took you three years to forget not to play with time travel?"

"This is not my fault!" James protested "Those eggheads are the ones that took the Chronosphere from the vault."

"Are these the same friends that help you booby-trap the woods?"

"They're in the cabin. We were waiting for you," James informed "Uncle Tony told us you were coming."

"So the Stark we got on the cameras is from the future too," Bobbi realized "If he told you we would find you, why set up the traps?"

"In case that guy he was fighting came back," James justified, a hint of fear creeping into his voice "I only got two words to describe him: Big and nasty. Besides, we had no idea what time we landed in. Those guys that got off the plane with you could be HYDRA sleepers."

"But they're not," Simmons insisted "James, think about it, love. If we remember you, wouldn't that mean you landed in a time period after your dad stopped project Insight?"

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Daisy did not like the look on that kid's face "What uh-oh?"

"I kind of promised my best friend she could fight the big guy," James answered.

"Mack? He's six foot four and weighs two hundred pounds," Fitz exclaimed "Why would your little mate want to fight him?"

* * *

"Somebody get me out of here!" Hunter sat impatiently in the net suspending him in the air, waiting for May to finish cutting her way through one of the knots. "You can take down a man twice your size in less than a minute, but it takes twenty minutes to cut a rope?"

"I'm trying!" the Calvary groaned in frustration the ropes refused to give "What are these things made of?"

"May? A little help?" Mack ducked as the giant Baymax took another swing at him, the SHIELD engineer trying to find a weak point on the giant action figure while dodging the acidic paintballs flying through the air. He didn't know how paint could melt metal, but he certainly didn't want to see what it could do to human flesh. Thank God for Lincoln Campbell. Those drones may have been impervious to bullets, but not high volts of electricity.

"Falalala."

Mack jumped back as Baymax slammed its fists into the ground where he once stood, firing his last shotgun shell into the giant toys' chest. It didn't even leave a scratch.

_ZZZAP!_

Mack let out a gasp as Lincoln shot Baymax in the back with a massive electrical blast, the human-sized action figure dropping to the ground in a lifeless, plastic heap. "Thanks. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it. To be honest, I wasn't even sure that would work," Lincoln confessed.

_WHOOSH!_

A blur of yellow and a gust of wind came flying out of the woods, throwing Lincoln into the side of the plane and knocking him out cold.

Hunter's eyes widened as a young girl appeared in the middle of the clearing, wearing a white t-shirt, light wash jeans and sneakers, a strange sword trapped to her back. "Who the bloody blazes is that?"

"For Asgard!" the little girl shouted, a faint British-like accent in her voice as she leapt up into the air, ready to drive her fist through Mack's head.

The SHIELD engineer dove out of the way as the girl came crashing down in front of him, his face turning pale as her fist leaving a massive hole in the trunk of the tree. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." Mack quickly held up both hands as he rose to his feet, the blonde-haired girl staring him down with her electric blue eyes. "Take it easy, little lady. We don't want to hurt you."

"Liar! I won't let you hurt my friends!" The little girl grabbed Mack's shirt with one hand and effortlessly lifted him into the air with one hand, using the other to draw her sword as she prepared to deliver a massive blow.

"Torunn stop!" James Rogers raced into the clearing as his best friend pointed the edge of her blade at Mack's throat, with Bobbi, Daisy, Fitz and Simmons right behind him.

"I remember you," May's neutral face shifted into a faint scowl as she recalled "You're the kid that dropped a sack of flower on my head."

"I said I was sorry."

"Aunt Bobbi." The blonde-haired girl's face broke into a massive grin as she dropped Mack to the ground, running over to the Mockingbird's side and giving her a warm hug.

"Bobbi, why is the demon child hugging you?" Hunter paled and shrunk back in the net as the Torunn gave him a murderous glare, pointing her blade right at his face.

"I am no demon. I am Torunn Foster. Daughter of Thor," she stated proudly "Princess of Asgard and heir to the throne. Insult me again Midgardian peasant, and you will feel my wrath."

"Is she always this dramatic?" Bobbi asked.

"She's just getting warmed up," James warned, rolling his eyes "Torunn, relax. They work with Aunt Bobbi."

Torunn frowned as she looked back the battered agents "You guys are SHIELD agents?"

"Yep. We're the good guys," Mack confirmed, rubbing the now sore spot on his head "Please don't hit me again."

"Sorry." Torunn smiled apologetically as she helped the SHIELD engineer to his feet "so much for a normal camping trip, huh James?"

"Hang on," Hunter furrowed his brow as James and Bobbi helped him out the net, a confused and bewildered look on his face "did you just say you lot were camping up here?"

"Yeah." James jerked a thumb towards the woods behind him "in the cabin."

"Wait a second." Torunn frowned as she turned her attention to a tall tree beside James and Bobbi "did you know these guys were SHIELD agents?"

"Who are you talking t-bloody!" Hunter shouted as an arrow hit the trunk of a tree behind him, a thick metal coil connected to the shaft, trailing to the tree Torunn was facing.

Emerging from the tree, a boy in a flannel shirt and jeans zip-lined down to the ground, a bow in his hands and a quiver on his back.

"Yeah, I did. Maybe if you guys hadn't left me in the dust when the alarm went off, I could've told you that."

Bobbi was drawn to him the second she saw him. His hair was a pale blonde, the same way hers was when she was young. His eyes were dark, yet soulful beyond his years. Bobbi had only seen eyes like that on one person before. Clint Barton.

The boy took one look at her and frowned. "Mom, why are you looking at me like that?"

* * *

_BOOM!_

Clint Barton jumped as a deafening explosion echoed in the distance, the retired Avenger dropping a skillet full of eggs on the floor as he made breakfast for his sister and her family.

"Uncle Clint?" Five year-old Katie Bishop sat at the kitchen table with her mother and her brother, each of them giving Clint a nervous expression. "What was that?"

_Nothing good, _he thought. "Everybody upstairs." The archer quickly removed a bow and quiver from the holster strapped to the bottom of the couch and went outside, heading towards a burning crater in the back forty. There, he found a dark-haired man in a tattered black dry-fit shirt and black pants lying unconscious on a bed of burning rock, the cracked arc reactor in his chest giving off a flickering blue light. Tony Stark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Tony!" Clint scrambled down into the crater as he threw his bow to the side, sliding across the loose rock to his friend's side. "Tony, wake up," he demanded, shaking the Iron Avenger's shoulder "Wake up, man. Come on!"

The billionaire genius let out a weak groan as he weakly opened his eyes. "Hey, Clint. Hope you don't mind me dropping in."

"You kidding, man? After all we've been through together?" The archer groaned as he draped Tony's arm across his shoulder, lifting him up to his feet as he dragged him out of the hole. "I thought you were retired, Tony."

"Avengers don't retire. You'll learn that soon enough."

"Don't count on it. Laura!" Clint shouted as he kicked his way into the back door. "Laura, get the med kit!" The retired Avenger gently laid his friend on the couch, where he finally got a good look at the battle-tested Iron Man.

His face was drenched in sweat. His jet black hair was turning grey. His goatee was thick and bushy. A trail of blood trickled from the left side of his mouth. A bruise was forming on his right eye. And his shirt was soaked in blood. Clint tentatively rolled up , revealing a large seeping gash across his ribs.

"Jesus Tony," Clint gasped, grabbing a blanket off the floor and pressing it to the wound "What happened to you?"

"Ten Rings."

"Ten what?'

"Terrorists," Tony answered in a series of ragged breaths "hacked my servers...stole...armor designs."

"Are you telling me that terrorists are running around with a bunch of knock-off Iron Man suits?"

Tony nodded, his chest heaving as fought to keep his eyes open. "Tracked the leader to Hong Kong...still...out there."

"I'm calling the others."

"No." Tony grabbed Clint's wrist as he reached for his phone "Not...secure. Listening."

"Tony, I've got a Sat phone upstairs-,"

"Clint...trust me," the wounded billionaire winced as he fought to sit up "Need to...trust me."

Clint looked into his friend's eyes, the dark brown irises begging for him to listen. "I trust you."

After taking a deep breath, Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out two thin metal bracelets. Stark smartbands. "Take these...wait for...SHIELD to call."

"SHIELD? What's SHIELD got to do with this?"

"Clint...do you remember that time...we got the gang together...and took Cap to...Mall of America?" Tony's lips formed into a brief yet pleasant smile "That was a good day."

"Tony. Tony." Clint quickly shook the billionaire's shoulder as his eyes slipped shut. "Come man, stay awake."

"Need...sleep."

"You've lost a lot a blood. Trust me," Clint gave his friend an insistent look as he kept pressure on Tony's wound. "sleep is the last thing that you need."

"Relax Barton." Tony brought a weary hand to the arc reactor in his chest "Nano tech. Heals me...while I sleep."

"Tony? Tony." Clint's eyes widened the billionaire slipped into unconsciousness, a strange silver liquid oozing from his wound in Iron Man's stomach, surrounding it and stopping the bleeding. Clint let out a sharp breath as he poked it with his finger. It was metal. Cool and liquid. Realizing that his friend had once again thought of everything, Clint glanced at the smartbands in his hand, a feeling of dread forming in his stomach.

* * *

"Got to admit, not how I thought this play out." Phil Coulson stood in his office with May and Bobbi, trying to come to terms with what they had found. Children.

Eight kids, four of each. Three with an agent of SHIELD for a mother. Bobbi's son. FitzSimmons' daughter. May's son. May's _son. _Coulson was really having a hard time wrapping his head around that one. The rest like, James and Torunn, were descendants of the Avengers. They had been using a SHIELD safehouse like it was a mountain retreat. Apparently, the cabin had been retired by 2030. Or at least, it would be. They were all still a bit shaken up when the agents found them, so they hadn't said much about who or what attacked the Iron Man from the future.

"What I don't get is how those kids get their hands on a time machine in the first place?" Coulson marveled.

"Stark's daughter," Bobbi answered "Morgan. The future Avengers keep all their confiscated alien tech in a vault for study. Audrey likes to break in there whenever she's bored."

Coulson chuckled. "She's a Stark alright."

"When her dad started having trouble with whoever or whatever it was he was fighting, she tried to modify the Chronosphere to send the kids back in time fifteen minutes before the attack," Bobbi explained "So they could warn Stark. But they ended up traveling fifteen years instead. Stark took the fight to the skies and they haven't seen him since."

"Well this day just got weird. Even for us." Coulson sighed. "We'll keep the kids here for now. If future Stark tries to contact them, we'll send back-up. Are any of the kids enhanced?"

"Just Torunn," May answered. "She threw Mack into a tree like he was ragdoll."

"Wish I could've seen that." Coulson commented "What were the kids doing up there anyway?"

At that moment, Simmons appeared in the doorway to the office. "You have got to see this."

* * *

It was his birthday. It was Bobbi's son's birthday. The children sat huddled together in the rec room, a massive plate of cookies, candy and snack cakes sitting in front of Frankie Barton as his friends sang.

"_Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Frankie. Happy Birthday to you!"_

Bobbi felt a hand drift to her stomach as she walked over to her son's side as he blew out the candles. Just this morning she found out she was pregnant, and now her child was celebrating his birthday. This truly took time flying to a whole other level. The blonde-haired agent smiled as she kissed her son's cheek. "Happy birthday, sweetie."

"Mom, cut it out!" Frankie pleaded as his cheeks turned red "I'm fourteen, not four."

"Want one, Mom?"

May felt her stomach twist in knots as her twelve year-old son Jack offered her a chocolate chip cookie, his dark eyes identical to her own, only far less hardened and burdened. "Pass."

"I'll eat it," Lillian Fitz-Simmons announced, the eleven year-old girl with short dark curls and her father's eyes smiling her mother's smile as she snatched the cookie from her friend's hand and stuffing it into her mouth. "It's one of Mom's."

"Yelena," James handed his sister a soft pink inhaler as she started coughing "take it."

Yelena, who was a perfect little blonde copy of her mother at the age of seven, shook her head she continued to cough. "I don't need it."

"Could've fooled me."

"It's just a cough James," Yelena managed as she started to wheeze "I'm fine."

"You got three seconds before I shove thing in your mouth and make you take it. One...two,"

"Fine." Yelena snatched the inhaler from her brother and took a big breath of the medicine, sighing as her breathing leveled out. The daughter of the Black Widow tossed the inhaler back to her brother and crossed her arms. "Happy?"

"Very."

"You always carry your sister's inhaler?" Bobbi asked.

"If I don't, she won't," James justified.

"My asthma's not that bad," Yelena protested "My doctor says it gets better every year."

"Doesn't mean you can throw out your inhaler."

"Doesn't mean you and mom can treat me like a baby."

"We're not trying to treat you like a baby, we're trying to keep you breathing," James sighed, glancing around the room right before he gave his sister a very Captain America-like look "Give it back."

"Give what back?" Yelena asked as she batted her eyes.

"These."

Bobbi's eyes widened as James pulled her batons out of Yelena's back pocket. "When did you-?"

"My sister has sticky fingers."

"Since when are we running a daycare center?" May whispered to Coulson.

"As long as it keeps the kids out of trouble." The Director of SHIELD tilted his head as he mentally counted only seven children. "I thought you said there were four girls."

"Bobbi." Daisy marched into the rec room as she dragged the missing child behind her, an eleven year-old girl with big brown eyes and long auburn hair behind her, a glowing arc reactor hanging from a gold chain like a necklace. Morgan Andrea Stark.

"Do you have Stark's number?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because his kid just turned half my laptops into spare parts,"

"I paid for them!" Morgan justified as she tried to pull her arm out of the Inhuman's grasp.

"One hundred bucks doesn't cover it."

"You're right. That junk was barely worth twenty."

"Junk!?"

"Daisy," Coulson quickly stepped between his agent and the little girl genius "Let me talk to her. Handling Starks is kind of my specialty." The Director SHIELD smiled as he knelt down to little girl's eye level. "It's Morgan, right? Why did you take agent Johnson's laptops?"

"I needed the parts to build a signal booster," she explained "If I can amp up the signal from my smartwatch, I can find my daddy. He could be lost or hurt or-,"

"I understand." Coulson felt his face soften at the worry in her eyes. "Daisy, take Audrey to lab. See if you and Fitz can help her out."

"Her? Help me? Please," Morgan scoffed "Have you that pitiful excuse she calls coding? Amadeus!"

A ten year-old, curly-haired Asian boy with big brown eyes looked up from his plate, his mouth covered in _Hostess _cupcake crumbs and filling.

"It's science time," Morgan announced "Come on."

"Remind me never to have kids," Daisy whispered, leading the children to the lab.

Torunn, who was sitting on the right of James, leaned over and whispered into her best friend's ear. "She's right, you know. Uncle Tony could need our help."

"That's why I'm coming up with a plan to get out of here."

Torunn should've known. He was eating a bowl full of jellybeans. He always ate those when he was scheming. "What are you thinking?"

"That I need more jellybeans."

* * *

"You are so much like your father." Bobbi smiled as she found her son in the gym, taking practice shots with his archery set after the children raided the base for every last sugary sweet.

Frankie looked at his mother out of the corner of his eye, lowering his bow in his hand as he walked over to the bullseye and removed his arrows. "You say that a lot." Frankie faced his mother and frowned "Why do keep looking at me like that?"

"Sorry." She couldn't help it. Bobbi tried her best not to stare, but the more time she spent with him, the more she saw herself in him. The way he tilted his head. The stride in his walk. The color of his hair and the shape of his cheeks. She saw Clint in him too. The concentrated look on his face when he fired an arrow. The sound of his voice and the color of his eyes. He was Clint and Bobbi rolled into one. A perfect testament to their love. "This is all just… a little overwhelming."

Frankie nodded, knowing all too well that life for the Avengers had a tendency to get strange. "Was Auntie Tasha like that when James showed up?"

"Natasha wasn't pregnant."

Frankie missed his shot by a mile. "Am I really growing inside of you right now?"

Bobbi nodded.

"This is giving me a headache. No wonder soldier boy didn't want us using that thing."

Bobbi frowned when she saw her son start to twirl his bow. "What's wrong?"

"That guy Uncle Tony was fighting. What if he comes back?"

Bobbi gave him a deeply supportive look once she saw the fear in her son's eyes. "If he does, we'll stop him."

"What if you can't? Audrey's right, Mom. Compared to the stuff in Uncle Tony's suit, your best tech is junk. And this guy, he's like, like..."

Bobbi became increasingly worried as she noticed to the terrified look on her son's face. "Like who?"

"The Mad Titan."

* * *

"Unbelievable."

Morgan's eyes widened in shock as she walked into the lab with Daisy, Mack and Amadeus, where Fitz and Simmons were waiting with welcoming smiles.

"Well?" Fitz smiled as the children's speechlessness "Pretty brilliant, right?"

"Brilliant's not really the word I would use," Morgan confessed "I was thinking more like...garbage."

"This is stuff is pretty old," Amadeus agreed.

"No, Uncle Steve's phone is old. This stuff belongs in a museum," Morgan exclaimed "My daddy is running for his life and all I have to help him is a bunch of tech fossils!"

"This kid is seriously getting on my nerves," Daisy whispered, rolling her eyes as she checked the latest alert on her phone "Uh-oh."

Mack did not like that tone. "What's up, Tremors?"

"We're being hacked." The other agents gathered around Daisy as she quickly grabbed her laptop and got to work. "Someone just broke through half our firewalls in less than a minute."

"How is that possible?"

"I have no idea! I coded those firewalls myself. It should take hours to get through them. Even with a super computer!"

"Told you your coding was garbage," Morgan commented.

"Can you stop it?" Simmons asked.

"I'm trying. But this code… i-it's beyond anything I've ever seen. Even on the dark web." Daisy glanced nervously at the other agents "Something tells me our secret base might not be so secret much longer."

"Fitz, help her," Mack ordered "I'll tell Coulson. Help him get started evacuating the base."

Morgan took one look at the screen of Daisy's computer and paled. She'd seen that coding before. "James!''

* * *

Coulson sat behind his desk, a grim look on his face after receiving Mack's news. "How much time do we have?"

The engineer shrugged. "By the way Daisy was talking, next to none."

Coulson sighed. "Evacuate the base," he ordered. "Assign all agents separate rendezvous locations. Recover as much crucial data and resources as possible and destroy the rest. Then tell Bobbi to grab the kids and meet us on Zephyr One."

"Yes sir."

As Mack rushed off to carry out Coulson's orders, the Director quickly put brought the hacker turned Inhuman on video call "How we looking Daisy?"

_"Not good. The boys and I have pulled just every trick we can think of and it barely slows this guy down. I can't believe I let this happen."_

"Don't blame yourself. Just be glad you caught the hack before it was too late."

_"It's already too late. Coulson, we have five minutes until they have our location," _Daisy revealed_ "Tops."_

Coulson pulled a go bag out from under his desk and strapped a gun to his hip. "That's five more than we had. Grab your gear and meet us at the plane. We're leaving."

* * *

James stood with Yelena, Morgan, Torunn and Amadeus in the hall, a nervous look on his face. "Are you sure?"

"Totally," Morgan confirmed "I've been helping my dad study that code for months. It popped on my smartwatch just before he showed up at the cabin."

James' heart started pounding. "He's looking for us."

"What are we going to do?"

Amadeus tugged on James' sleeve. "Plan G?"

"NO!" the children said together.

Amadeus pouted. "But it's my favorite plan."

"We need a plan big brother," Yelena insisted "One that isn't Plan G."

"I know. I know." James sighed as struggled to think, watching the SHIELD agents run past. Rushing...hurrying...not paying them any attention. The son of Captain America's lips shifted into small smirk. One that could only come from the Black Widow.

Torunn knew what that meant. "You've got a plan don't you?"

* * *

"Family bonding time's over you two," Hunter announced as he came barreling into the gym, tossing Bobbi a packed duffel bag as he came to a screeching halt. "We've got to move."

"Hunter, what's going on?"

"Some bugger's digging through Daisy cyber walls like a rabbit in a carrot patch. We've got less than five minutes before they have our location."

"Frankie." All eyes turned to James as he burst into the gym, a panicked and nervous look on his face "We've got a problem."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"This is serious farm boy. He's after us!"

"Who?"

"Who do you think? The Mandarin!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

The second he heard that name, Frankie's blood turned cold. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Do I look I'm joking?" James demanded.

"Isn't the Mandarin just some actor bloke on AIM's payroll?" Hunter asked.

"That Mandarin was a fake," Frankie answered, with a deep sense of dread "We're talking about the real one."

"The guy who attacked you guys at the cabin?" Bobbi realized "the one Stark flew off with."

James nodded. "Morgan got a look at the coding on Daisy's laptop. She saw the exact same thing on her smartwatch in 2030. I'm telling you, the Mandarin is coming here."

"Which is why we're going to get you out of here make sure it can't find you," Bobbi assured.

"Sorry Aunt Bobbi," James backed away and grabbed Frankie's arm as the lights went out "but we've got our own plan."

* * *

Yelena grinned as she dropped down from the air vents as she entered the SHIELD vault, having the time of her life. She felt like her mother, sneaking behind enemy lines to steal a super villain's deepest and darkest secrets. As the daughter of the Black Widow searched the dark room with the flashlight app on her smartwatch, she quickly found a familiar golden orb. "I've got the Chronosphere," she said into her Bluetooth headset "Step one check."

* * *

"Daisy, let's go."

The female Inhuman continued to scramble between three separate computers as her boyfriend attempted to get her to leave. "Meet me at the plane. I need to do what I can to slow down the hack."

"There is no way I'm letting you stay here."

"Lincoln, our hacker just launched a squad of drones at us," Daisy revealed "they may not have our exact location yet, but by the time those things are in range, they will."

"All the more reason not to stick around on a sinking ship!"

"You do if keeps the lifeboats from being shot out of the water."

As the two Inhumans continued to argue, Morgan slipped into the room and plugged her smartwatch into Daisy's computer, downloading a helpful program before activating her Bluetooth as she slipped out of the room. "JOCASTA'S in. Step two, check."

* * *

"You want to tell me what the plan is, James?" Frankie asked. The two oldest sons of the Avengers were running through the Playground at high speed as the lights turned back on, the son of Hawkeye completely clueless as to what was going on.

"Well maybe if you hadn't been off on your own, you would know," James jabbed "Long story short, we're getting out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Because Mandarin's isn't going to stop looking for us, and I don't think SHIELD can stop him. That guy's cutting through Miss Johnson's firewalls like they're nothing."

"You really think we're going to be safer outside of the top secret SHIELD base?"

"Yep. You especially."

Frankie frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mom is pregnant with you!" James reminded "What happens if Mandarin figures that out and hurts her? Bad? As in no-more-baby-Frankie-bad?"

Frankie stopped in his tracks. "Whoa."

"Yeah. Whoa," James repeated "We've gotta get out of here."

"Okay, but how?" Frankie asked "we can't let that psycho find this place and we still need that Chronosphere thing to get back home."

"That's why I had Yelena take out the vault and asked Morgan to download JOCASTA into the SHIELD mainframe to stop the hack."

Frankie blinked as he was once again amazed at how his could form a plan as quickly as his father. "Guys!" The young archer's eyes widened as he spotted Jack and Lillian heading for Coulson's office "The Mandarin's coming!"

"So?" Jack asked in an unimpressed tone. "Aunt Daisy can stop him."

"You're kidding right?" James scoffed "If my Uncle Tony can't stop the Mandarin, what makes you think Miss Johnson can?"

"Can we please not have the latest round of SHIELD versus Avengers?" Frankie asked impatiently "There's a super villian on his way here right now!"

"I'm not leaving," Jack stated strongly.

"Me neither," Lilian agreed, crossing her arms.

Frankie sighed. "I'm not going without them, James."

"There's no way we're leaving you here."

"Who said I was staying? Grab them!"

"Hey!" Jack's eyes widened as James and Frankie tossed him and Lillian over their shoulders "What are you doing? Frankie, put us down!"

"This for your own good," the young archer promised as he ran down the hall with James "For the record, worst birthday ever."

* * *

"It stopped."

Lincoln frowned at the surprised look on Daisy's face. "What stopped?"

"The hack," she answered "Some AI just kicked him right out of the system."

"Daisy!" Bobbi shouted as she and Hunter came bursting into the room, a panicked look on the blonde agent's face. "The kids are gone!"

"What?"

"The seconds the lights went out the whole lot disappeared," Hunter explained "we can't find them anywhere."

"Why they would leave?" Daisy asked.

"The thing that attacked Stark at the cabin, James called it the Mandarin," Bobbi explained "the real one. The kids think that he tracked them here."

"Wait a sec," Daisy's eyes widened as she turned back to her computer "don't all the kids have smartwatches?"

"I think so, why?"

"Because the AI that kept the hacker from finding us was downloaded from a Stark Industries smartwatch," Daisy revealed. "It's spreading through the entire system."

"Uh guys?" Lincoln drews threw others attention to the security feed of the main hallway, where James and Frankie were carrying Jack and Lillian towards the hangar bay.

* * *

"Morgan, hurry up."

"I'm trying." The daughter of Iron Man groaned as she struggled to hack open the bay doors of Zephyr One with her smartwatch, her fingers fluttering rapidly across the holographic screen, her friends waiting impatiently around her. "The coding on this thing is like a dead language."

"Look!" Yelena pointed to James and Frankie as they came running toward them, the son of Melinda May and the daughter of Jemma Simmons draped over their shoulders.

"What'd you bring them for?" Torunn asked.

"Frankie wouldn't leave without them. Ow!" James exclaimed "Quit kicking me, Jack!"

"Not until you puts down!" he demanded, kicking James again.

"Frankie, let us down!" Lillian insisted "this is kidnapping!"

"No, this is us saving your lives," the young archer answered, wincing as she tugged at his pale blonde locks "and quit pulling my hair!"

James frowned when he looked at the massive aircraft carrier before them. "What'd you pick this one for?"

"Because it's the one with the most advanced systems," Morgan answered, not looking up from her smartwatch "Makes it easier to hack."

"It's huge. Huge means slow," James stated sharply "We need to find another plane."

"Frankie!"

"Uh-oh." The son of Hawkeye looked over his shoulder and saw Bobbi running toward them, along with Lincoln, Daisy and Hunter. "Hey Morgan, you think you could hurry it up?"

"You know what? Why don't one of you guys try hacking a fifteen year old plane and see how long you take!"

"Plan G?" Amadeus offered.

"NO!" the children repeated.

"Got it." Mogan grinned triumphantly as she hacked through the final line of code, causing the bay doors of Zephyr One open up. "Time to go guys!"

"Come on!" James shouted as he led the others onto the plane.

As the jet began to rise, Bobbi's heart sank as it passed the hanger doors and into the open skies, taking her son with it.

* * *

"We need to get them back," Daisy demanded "those drones are still in the air. If just one of them gets the Quinjet on radar, all three of them will lock on shoot them out of the sky."

"My God," Bobbi gasped as her heart sank to her stomach. She could not lose her child again.

"I should be able to hack into the plane's autopilot," Daisy thought aloud as she hunched over her tablet, cursing as she ran into a dead end "this AI keeps blocking me out. I can't work around it."

Bobbi slammed her fist against the desk as she cursed her fellow agent "That's my son out there!"

"Bobbi!" Hunter quickly pulled his friend aside and spoke in a gentler voice "Now, I'm not going to even to pretend to imagine what you're going through right now but I promise you, we will get your boy back." Hunter ran his hands on over Bobbi's shoulders as she took a nervous breath "Daisy, you think you can access the comms?"

* * *

"Are you guys out of your minds?!" Jack stood with Lillian in the cockpit of Zephyr One, glaring at Frankie and the rest of the children of the Avengers. "Take us back to the base, now!"

"We just saved your butts!" James protested "And now you want us to go back where the Mandarin's supposed to show up?

"SHIELD can stop the Mandarin."

"You mean that same SHIELD that nearly let Hydra murdr half the planet until my parents cleaned up the mess?"

Jack felt his hands ball up into tight fists. "If you bring that up one more time, I'm going to make you eat your teeth."

"Try it," James challenged, glaring down at the twelve year-old boy. "I dare you."

"Guys!" Frankie quickly stepped between the two boys and pushed them apart. "Cool it. We've got enough problems right now, so can you please not start a mini-Civil War?"

"Guys? Somebody's trying to call us," Morgan informed "It's from SHIELD."

"Great," James sighed as he told his friend to put it through.

_"Frankie!" _

The son of Hawkeye cringed as his mother's voice rang through the comms.

_"Are you alright?"_

"Hey mom," the fourteen year-old greeted nervously "We're fine. How's your day going?"

_"Francis Barton, you get back here right now!"_

"Ooooh," Yelena gave Frankie a teasing smile "You're in trouble."

"Shut up."

"Aunt Bobbi, this was all my idea," James informed "I dragged the others into it."

"Some of us literally," Jack murmured.

"_I don't care whose idea this was, just get back here!_" Bobbi repeated "_You need to get out of the sky before those drones find you._"

James frowned. "What drones?"

Suddenly, the entire plane shook as a machine gun fire strafed the wing, tossing the kids left and right.

"Oh,"James groaned as he sat up "those drones."

"JOCASTA," Morgan quickly strapped herself in as she jumped into a seat "Please tell me you're online."

"_Best I can be without frying this boat's circuits,_" A british female voice replied from the speakers of the plane "_Strap in kiddies. Time for some fancy flying_."

* * *

"The drones just locked onto the jet."

Bobbi stood in the Director's office along with the rest of her team, feeling as if her heart was going to explode at a moment's notice.

"Daisy, keep working to get around that AI," Coulson ordered "We need to get those kids out of the air, now."

"I'm trying." Daisy's eyes stayed glued to her computer screen, her fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard "But this thing is literally decades ahead of anything else out there right now. It's like I'm trying to hack a smartphone with an 80s computer."

"I can't take this anymore."

"Bobbi!" Simmons grabbed the blonde agent as she attempted to leave "Where are you going?"

"To save my son."

"You can't! When Romanoff got hurt on her mission to Austria, James was nearly erased from existence. What do you think will happen to Frankie if you get hurt while he is growing inside you?"

"Wait, you're pregnant?" Mack asked.

"Simmons is right," May agreed "We can't send you out there. You're too close to this."

"That is my son out there," Bobbi reminded furiously "Fitz and Simmons' daughter! _Your _son!"

"I know that!" May snapped, with a tremble in her voice "Which is why I'm removing myself from the situation. Daisy, can you find us a pilot to get the kids back?"

"I'm trying. But this Stark AI is spreading across all our systems. It's crippling our jets like our virus. It's going to take time just to find one that can fly."

As her heart attempted to jump out of her chest, Bobbi looked down to see she had text on her phone: _Jet 47B. Northwest corner of the hanger—Daisy._ Bobbi glanced at the Inhuman hacker, who simply acknowledged her with a look out of the corner of her eye. Bobbi nodded and took off.

* * *

"James, if we blow up, I swear I'll kill you!"

"Shut up,Jack!" The son of Captain America felt his heart race as he fought to stay calm, while three drones continued chase and circle the Zephyr.

Yelena squeezed her eyes shut as the plane shook violently from the blast of a nearby missile. "This isn't fun anymore."

James reached over and took his sister's hand and squeezed it gently. "Everybody, just relax. We're okay."

"It is not okay," Jack disputed "We're about to blown right out of the sky!"

"I don't want to die!" Lillian shrieked.

"Nobody's going to die," Frankie quickly reassured "Things could get way worse before we have to worry about that."

Moments like this, Jack truly questioned his friend's sanity. "What's worse than a bunch of drones trying to shoot out of the sky?"

"Flying super villains, fire goblins, alien battleships. Honestly, this is a like a four out of ten on the danger scale." The young archer cringed as the Zephyr nearly dodged another missle "Maybe a six."

"JOCASTA, let me out of here," Torunn demanded "I'll take those drones down myself."

_"Absolutely not young lady," _The AI disputed "_You may be half-Asgardian, but I don't think you're ready to take automated machine gun fire."_

"Plan G?" Amadeus suggested.

"NO!" The children shouted.

James jumped as an explosion rang out around them, the sight of a flaming drone passing by the window. "What just happened?"

_"Hey guys."_

* * *

"Thought you could use a hand." Bobbi increased the speed on her Quinjet as she soared through the air, desperate to reach the children as soon as possible.

"_Excuse me darling_," JOCASTA interrupted as she invaded Bobbi's comms "_but who invited you to the party?_"

"Somebody has to keep these kids from being shot out of the sky."

_"And I can't? I'll have you know I was designed with one of the most advanced piloting systems in the business."_

"So how come you didn't know there were drones in the air?"

_"Oh, I'm sorry," _JOCASTA apologized_ "I was a little busy keeping your super-secret spy agency a secret."_

_"Hey Aunt Bobbi, you think you could stop arguing with the computer and give us a hand here?" _Jack asked _"Before James gets us blown up?"_

_"Hey, how the heck was I supposed to know that there were drones in the air?"_

"Relax kids." Bobbi locked in on one of the drones and fired, blowing it out of the sky as the missile hit. "Everything's going to be fine." The Mockingbird grunted as the plane shook, a missile exploding nearby as one of the drones circled around and came up behind her. "This just got interesting."

"Guys? I don't feel so good."

Torunn paled as she looked as Frankie, the son of Hawkeye becoming a dark brownish grey sat beside her. Like a stack of dust. "James, what's happening?"

"It's the Mad Titan!" Morgan shouted.

It wasn't him. James knew that. He had seen this before. Felt this before. "JOCASTA, you have to help Aunt Bobbi!"

_"Working on it! This plane isn't exactly the most nimble, you know."_

"She's going to get blown up!"

* * *

Bobbi grunted as another missile detonated near her, glancing nervously at her stomach. "I know it's getting a little bumpy, but we're going to make it through this. I won't let anything happen to you."

Just as the drone fired another missile, Bobbi sent her plane straight up, flying in a massive arc, diving one of the drones as she achieved missile locked onto the drone and impacted, blowing it out of the sky.

"I promise."

* * *

Frankie gasped for air as his body solidified, his heart pounding at a million miles an hour. "I don't know what just happened, but I never want to do that again."

"You and me both," James agreed.

"Is that the whole what-happens-to-me-if-something-happens-to-my-mom thing you were talking about?"

"Yep."

The children gripped their seats as a missile detonated near the wing of Zephyr One.

"Aunt Bobbi, now would be a really good time to take out that last drone," Lillian suggested.

* * *

"I'm on my way." Bobbi clenched her jaw as she punched the throttle, closing in on the final drone as it continued to prey upon Zephyr One. She locked onto the drone and fired, sending the remote controlled weapon on a fiery collision course with the ground. Bobbi smiled as the children cheered through her comms. "Glad you liked the fireworks. Now sit tight. I'm boarding you now."

* * *

Bobbi gently rocked Yelena in her arms, the daughter of the Black Widow crying like a baby from the moment the blonde agent entered the plane. "It's okay. It's okay, sweetie," she whispered, rubbing the little girl's shoulders "It's all over now."

"I-I w-was so scared!" Yelena sobbed, her face buried in her aunt's neck.

James rolled his eyes. "Yelena will stop drama queening? It wasn't that bad."

"I-it was awful! This is all your fault James!"

"My fault?"

"You were the one who wanted to leave SHIELD. If we hadn't listened to you, we never would've run into those stupid drones. I… thought… I was…gonna die!" Yelena wailed "I'm telling Mom and Dad!"

"Rat."

"James, be nice," Bobbi scolded "don't be too mad at your brother, Yelena. He was only trying to," Bobbi's voice trialed when she heard a familiar clicking sound, looking down to find herself handcuffed to a railing. "What's going on?"

Yelena stopped crying as she glanced up at Bobbi, her eyes dry as her face morphed into a perfect copy of her mother's confident smirk. "I cannot believe you fell for that."

"Seriously," James chuckled "all she did was make a bunch of noise. She didn't even have to shed a tear. You're a lot harder to trick in the future."

Bobbi blinked slowly as she remembered she was dealing with the children of the Black Widow. "Don't do this. You can't go out there alone. It's too dangerous."

"It's too dangerous for us to stay here," James argued "Come on, guys. We're taking the Quinjet."

"You've got to be kidding me," Jack snapped "Your crazy plan almost got us killed!"

"Did you see what happened to Frankie the second those drones went after Aunt Bobbi? If any one of our parents tries to protect us from the Mandarin, we're all dust. We have to do this ourselves."

"We're not going," Jack stated as he and Lillian stood their ground "And you can't make us."

"Wanna bet?"

"Hey!" Jack groaned as Torunn and James tossed him and LIllian over their shoulder and headed to the Quinjet "Stop kidnapping us!"

"It's not kidnapping if it saves your life," Torunn corrected.

As the other children filed off into the Quinjet, the son of Hawkeye lingered behind, his mother giving him a pleading look.

"Don't do this Frankie," Bobbi implored "SHIELD can protect you."

Frankie paused as he twirled his bow. "James is right."

James stopped halfway dead in his tracks. "What did you just say?"

"I know, I can't believe it either," Frankie agreed "But you and SHIELD nearly got blown to bits just for having us on the base. We've got a target on our backs. I don't want you to be in danger because of me."

"You can't face this thing by yourselves."

Bobbi felt a tug on her heartstrings as Frankie gave her a confident smile, his face turning into a reflection of his father.

"We're tougher than we look. After all, we're your kids, right?"

"Frankie," James shouted as he rounded the corner "hurry up!"

"Quit with the power trip James, before I turn your butt into a pin cushion!" Frankie shouted "I gotta go. Keep baby me safe, alright?"

"Frankie. Frankie!" Bobbi began to panic as she struggled to break free from her cuffs, he hands fumbling as she picked the lock. When she got free, she fell back against the wall as she heard the sound of the Quinjet breaking off from Zephyr One. They were gone.

* * *

Bobbi stood with Coulson in his office, a stern, disapproving expression on the Director's face.

"I understand that you are in a complicated position. But what you did was reckless and insubordinate. You put yourself and according to Simmons, your son at unnecessary risk. That being said, I also know that nothing can rival the lengths a mother will go through to defend their child. That's why I'm not taking you out of the field."

Bobbi held back a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir."

"With one condition."

"And what's that?"

Coulson reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a sat phone. "Call him."

* * *

Clint sat by the open window of his room early in the afternoon, a bow and arrow resting in his lap. He didn't know who or what exactly had beaten Tony within an inch of his life, but knowing Clint's luck, they would be at the farm soon enough.

"Uncle Clint?" Katie appeared in the doorway as she revealed "Mr. Stark is leaving."

"Leaving?" Clint followed his niece quickly down the stairs into the living room, where the Iron Avenger was limping his way outside. "Tony, what are you doing?"

"Sorry to make a mess on your couch and run" the billionaire said in a weak voice, "but I have to meet the kids."

"Kids? What kids?" Clint asked "Tony! Wait!"

But he didn't. The billionaire genius kept moving as he stumbled outside onto the back field, his head spinning and chest burning as he tapped the arc reactor in his chest, activating his armor. He was getting too old for this. But he couldn't give up. Not with that maniac still out on the loose. Not while the kids were in danger. Tony had to protect them. No matter what the cause.

"Tony!" Clint made his way outside just in time to see his friend fly off into the sky, just before the archer's phone started to ring. "Hello?"

"_Hey baby," _Bobbi greeted _"I need your help."_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"You know, you guys got some lousy timing." Clint sat in the back of the Quinjet as he flew to the Playground, trying to make smalltalk with his pilot and only company, Melinda May. He didn't know why SHIELD had sent for him. Only that it was urgent and that it involved children. Judging by the day he was having, the same children Tony was trying to protect.

"Sorry to interrupt to your retirement," May responded dryly.

"Yeah, me too. So what's going on?"

"I told you. Bobbi and Coulson will explain once we get to the base."

"Am I going to want to hurt someone?"

"Bobbi's fine," May assured "Don't worry."

"Just checking," Clint nervously linked his fingers together "You guys don't exactly have the best track record for bringing me good news."

* * *

_Clint burst into the medical wing of the Playground, his heart stopping as he saw Bobbi lying on the operating table. "What happened?"_

_Coulson grimaced. "Ward happened."_

_Ward. Bobbi told Clint about him. The Hydra sleeper who sold out his team and left FitzSimmons to rot at the bottom of the ocean. _

_"After Puerto Rico, Ward teamed up with Agent 33," Coulson continued "Apparently she blamed Bobbi for her capture by Hydra. They tortured her. Then they strapped her to a chair with a rifle pointed at the door. Bobbi put herself in front it to save Hunter."_

_Clint felt like his heart was slowly being ripped out of his chest as the surgeons cut, poke and prod to remove what remained of the bullet in Bobbi's chest. "She going to make it?"_

_"Simmons says it'll be slow going, but she should make a full recovery."_

_Clint nodded silently, his heart finally starting to beat again. He should've been here. And if it hadn't been for Ultron trying to turn Sokovia into a meteor, he would've. Part of him wanted to kill Stark for keeping him away. But then he remembered that there was someone else how deserved his rage. "This guy, Ward," Clint swallowed a growing lump in his throat, his hands balled into tight fists as he continued to watch the doctors poke and prod to get the bullet fragments out of Bobbi's lungs "you want him dead?"_

_Coulson paused for a moment before he answered. "Preferably."_

_The archer glanced at Coulson out of the corner of his eye as he took a shaky breath, his dark brown irises blazing with fury. "Then you let me know the second he pokes his head out of the ground. And I will put an arrow in his eye."_

* * *

Clint walked off the Quinjet with a bag slung over his shoulder, smiling as he saw a familiar face waiting for him. "Fonsie!"

"Hey Clint." Mack chuckled as he brought his old friend in for a welcoming embrace. "How's retirement?"

"Wouldn't know. Every time I get settled you guys try to pull me back into the fray. I heard you guys finally put Ward into the ground."

Mack nodded as the two of them walked through the hangar and onto the base. "Coulson took him out a couple months ago."

"Wish I could've seen that." Clint's voice trailed off as spotted her out of the corner of his eye. She was in just a t-shirt and worn out jeans, but to Clint, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Bobbi Morse.

Mack took one look at the look on Clint's face and sighed. "Go on."

Clint smiled as he walked over, his heart skipping a beat as Bobbi smiled back. "Hey Bobbi baby."

"Hey."

Clint smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his lips to hers as she placed her arms around his neck. "You know when I said we should meet up this weekend; this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Clint frowned as he saw a nervous look quickly spread across his girlfriend's face "What's wrong?"

"I need to tell you something. I just," Bobbi sighed "I didn't want to tell you like this."

"Tell me what?"

"Baby, I'm pregnant."

"You're-?" Clint was silent for a moment, his face quickly shifting from shock to pure joy. "Are you telling me that our arrow slinging, baton twirling, butt-kicking baby is growing inside of you right now?" Clint took Bobbi's face in his hands as his voice began to tremble "Is my baby having my baby?"

Bobbi gave him a tearful smile. "Your baby's having your baby."

"My baby's having my baby." Clint kissed her then, his hands gently running though her hair as a massive smile spread across his face. "It's going to be different this time," he promised "everything's going to fine, baby. You can come with me back to the farm so you can relax. And-,"

"It's a boy."

Clint stopped his rambling and frowned. "What did you say?"

"The baby," Bobbi clarified "It's a boy."

Clint blinked and tilted his head as he asked "Bobbi, how do you know it's a boy?"

"Babe, do you remember James?"

"James as Steve and Natasha's kid from the future James? How could I forge-," Clint's voice trailed off when he realized "James came back from the future and he brought our son with him."

Bobbi nodded. "Yeah."

"But that's not why you called."

* * *

"You _lost _my _son!?_"

Coulson sighed as he stood with Clint and Bobbi in his office, the archer now in a familiar fit of rage. "I can see you're upset."

"Upset doesn't come close to describe it. How do a bunch of kids break their way out of a SHIELD base, Coulson!?" Clint demanded.

"To be fair, one of them is Asgardian."

"I don't care if one of them is a baby Hulk! We need to find them," Clint ordered "Now."

"That's why we called you," Coulson agreed "The mini-Avengers were the masterminds behind the breakout. You know their parents, which gives you insight on how the kids think. And since not all of them seem to have the deepest faith in SHIELD, you and Bobbi may the only ones able to convince them to come in once we locate them."

"You said the kids took one of the Quinjets," Clint remembered "Why can't you just track the thing?"

"That's easier said than done at the moment."

* * *

Coulson led Clint and Bobbi into the server room, where Daisy and a dozen other SHIELD techs were huddled over their computers. "Before the kids left, they downloaded an A.I. into the system," Coulson explained "kept the Mandarin from finding our location. But in a matter of hours it's taken over our entire system. Daisy, what have you got?"

"Aside from a massive headache, not much" the Inhuman sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose "The A.I. is Stark-made. Coding makes it obvious. And it is unbelievably advanced. Every time we try to come up with something, the AI predicts it and throws up a new firewall that takes us another hour to work around."

"Wait, you said this is a Stark A.I.?" Clint repeated.

"Yeah, why?"

"What's its designation?"

"Uh," Daisy paused as she briefly searched her computer "JOCASTA."

"Let me try something." The archer cleared his throat and leaned in close to the mic in Daisy's computer "JOCASTA, online. Authorization code: Barton, C. A106."

Suddenly, the lights in the server room brightened, a digitized voice echoing through the room speakers _"Ugh. I absolutely loathe it when you lot do that."_

Coulson frowned. "Why does the AI sound like Peggy Carter?"

"I don't know. Hey JOCASTA, want to clear that up for us?"

"_I suppose little Anthony simply missed the sound of his loving godmother's voice."_

Clint's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "Peggy Carter is Stark's-? You know what? Not going to get into that. Where are the kids?"

"_I'm terribly sorry Clinton,_" JOCASTA apologized _"I'm afraid I can't tell you."_

Clint leaned over Daisy's computer. "Authorization code: Barton, C. A106."

"_Ramble off that little code as much as you want. It won't change a thing. Besides, Anthony already told you where to find them."_

"Oh my God."

"What is it?" Bobbi asked.

"I saw future Tony," Clint realized "He landed in my back field this morning. But he literally took off right before you called."

"Did he tell you where the kids were going?"

"No. He crashed in my back field, passed out on my couch, rambled about some terrorist that stole his tech and-," Clint's eyes widened as he remembered "Mall of America."

* * *

James stood outside a department store fitting room, wearing a black leather jacket over a red t-shirt, along with blue jeans, his favorite red sneakers, and black aviator sunglasses. After leaving SHIELD headquarters, he figured it would be a good idea to get some new clothes to help blend in. Since her hundred thousand dollar allowance didn't exist yet, Morgan hacked into one of her father's less used accounts and withdrew a few hundred dollars in cash. If all went according to plan, they would all be back to the future long before the Tony Stark of this era even knew the money was missing. Assuming his baby sister would make up her mind and pick some clothes. James sighed as he knocked on the door to the fitting room. "Come on, hurry up."

"Don't rush me!" Yelena snapped "Perfection takes time."

James groaned. "Why didn't I let Torunn do this?"

"Because you're an overprotective, loving big brother. Okay, how do I look?" Yelena stepped out of the dressing room in a navy blue bomber jacket, a white t-shirt, dark grey leggings, white ballet shoes and a New York Yankees baseball cap on her head. "Is this what it was like for Mom and Dad?"

"Like this for Mom and Dad when?" James asked, as he paid for his sister's clothes.

"When they found out Uncle Bucky was alive," Yelena clarified "and sank all those helicarriers in Washington D.C."

"I guess so." James commented, realizing he'd copied Natasha's idea to hide out in a mall.

"James?" Yelena's voice became nervous as she whispered in Russian _"What if the Mandarin finds us again?"_

The son of Captain America felt his stomach do a back-flip. "Whatever happens, we'll get through it together. Hey," James reached over and took his little sister's hand as they walked out of the store, trying his best to be brave. "It's you and me until when?"

"Till the end of the line."

* * *

"This is crazy."

Jack walked side by side with Frankie and Lillian, the son of the Calvary wearing a black bomber jacket over a black t-shirt, blue jeans, grey running shoes and a pair of sunglasses. "First your friends kidnap us, and then they take us shopping?"

"For the hundredth time, we did not kidnap you," Frankie repeated, now wearing a black leather jacket over a white Henley shirt, along with a pair of light wash jeans and tan work boots.

"You literally dragged onto the Quinjet kicking and screaming," Lillian reminded, wearing a light wash denim jacket over a white t-shirt along with light grey leggings and lavender Converse sneakers. "Give us one reason why we shouldn't call our parents and let them know where we are?"

"Look, I know James can be a handful," Frankie acknowledged "But he's right. The Mandarin is seriously above SHIELD's weight class. They don't have the Secret Warriors yet. Just Aunt Daisy and Lincoln. And if our parents try to fight him again, we could all end up getting blipped," he emphasized "You saw what happened to me when those drones came after my mom."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Jack asked "Hang out at the mall until the Mandarin finds us?"

"James is already working on a plan. Look bottom line, we've got a better chance of getting through this thing together," Frankie insisted. James and the others may have been the children of Earth's mightiest heroes, but they didn't know much about the agents of SHIELD. But Jack and Lillian did. They could predict what Coulson and his team would do next. And Frankie knew they could certainly hold their own. Even if Jack and Lillian didn't know it.

Jack looked at the pleading expression on his friend's face and sighed. "Fine. We'll help. For now."

* * *

"Remind again what they're doing here?" Morgan Stark sat in the food court with her friends early that afternoon, the daughter of Iron Man now wearing a bright red blazer over a black dress, black leggings, red and white high top sneakers and a pair of Stark sunglasses, gesturing to Jack and Lillian as she continued to work. She had finished repairing her drones and had starting constructing a pair of gauntlets modeled after her father's. Made of cell phone circuit boards, L.E.D lights, vibranium shards, copper wires and Lego blocks.

"Frankie wouldn't leave without them," James answered.

"Because they can help," Frankie said at the same time.

"My daddy is missing, possibly hurt," Morgan reminded in a nervous voice "with a supervillain on his tail. How is dead weight supposed to help us?"

"Dead weight?"

"See, this is what I'm talking about," Jack stated angrily "You guys always act like you're better than us."

"We are better than you."

"Morgan," Torunn scolded. The Asgardian princess wore a red suede biker jacket over a white "Girl Power" t-shirt with ripped black jeans, black leather boots and sunglasses "Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean. I'm stating facts. Jack has fought James in three martial arts tournaments and has never won one," Morgan reminded "And my worst patent makes Lillian's best science fair project look like a potato clock," she added, causing Frankie to glare and Lillian to pout.

"_She's got a point," _Yelena whispered to her brother in Russian.

James stayed silent, the wheels in his head spinning rapidly as he swallowed another mouthful of jellybeans. "Bottom line, we all need to get back home. And our best chance is by working together."

Frankie nodded in agreement. "So what's the plan?"

"We find Uncle Tony. Our Uncle Tony," James specified "the one from 2030."

"And do what?" Jack asked with a scoff "take on the Mandarin?"

"Yep."

Yelena blinked. "I think you hit your head when the drones attacked us, big brother."

"Uncle Tony is the only one who can hold his on with the Mandarin," James reminded "we find him, and we use the Chronosphere to go back to our own time. We call for help, and Mandarin gets an Avengers-sized butt-kicking. Morgan, do you think you can remake that amplifier thing you built at the cabin?"

"Piece of cake."

"Okay. But even if we do find Uncle Tony, he's been fighting Mandarin all day," Frankie reminded "How are we supposed to keep him busy long enough for Morgan to remake the amplifier?"

James glanced at Amadeus, now dressed in a dark blue polo with jeans and sneakers, his face now covered in Cinnabon icing. "Plan G."

Amadeus smiled.

"_Excuse me. I do so hate to interrupt your brainstorming plan kiddies,"_ JOCASTA interrupted in a nervous voice _"But I've detected a squad of SHIELD agent on the premises."_

James glanced at the nervous looks on his friends' faces "Split up."

* * *

"Am I the only one who thinks we're underestimating these kids?"

Mack and Hunter walked along the third floor of the Mall of America, the entire team split up to search for the kids.

The engineer frowning as his friend's comment. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that these kids are making us look like a bunch of rent-a-cops. And now they're about to do it again."

Mack chuckled. "Hunter, they're just kids."

"Yeah. Kids who without any previous planning busted out of our base, crippled our fleet, and stole a plane without breaking a sweat," Hunter reminded "I mean, come on. Look at where they picked to hide. One of the biggest malls and tourist traps in the country, plenty of places to hide in plain sight and an abundance of stores where they can get new clothes to blend in. They're not thinking like kids, Mack. They're thinking like spies."

_"That's because they were raised by the best,"_ Coulson reminded over the commms _"Hunter's right. These are not normal kids. They're children of some of our best agents. That's why we're not taking any chances. Daisy, we need eyes on the sky."_

* * *

"I'm trying to access the security feed now." The female Inhuman walked side by side with Lincoln, May and the director of SHIELD on the first floor of the mall "But something keeps shutting me out."

"How are we supposed to find eight kids in the world's biggest mall?" Lincoln asked.

"The old fashioned way," Coulson answered "We split up and search every floor."

* * *

"How did they find us so fast?" James walked with his sister across the mall, his head lowered as he scanned the floor for SHIELD agents. "We turned off the tracker in the Quinjet and we paid at all the stores with cash."

"Jack and Lillian," Yelena answered "They ratted us out."

"We don't know that. JOCASTA, I thought you were keeping their satellites from finding us."

"_And I have darling," _the Stark AI confirmed _"But there is little I can do to impede human interaction."_

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"_It means that the future Mrs. Barton recruited the aid of Mr. Barton."_

* * *

"What's his middle name?"

Bobbi glanced at her boyfriend curiously as they stood on the third floor, the two of them searching for any sign of the missing children with Fitz and Simmons. "What?"

"Frankie," Clint clarified "did he tell you his middle name?"

"No. Why?"

Clint shrugged. "Just figured if we already know what to name our kid, then we'd only have to figure who to make the godparents and how to design the nursery."

_"I assume I'm under consideration," _Mack interrupted across the comms.

"Can we please focus on finding the kids first?" Simmons requested sharply. The SHIELD biochemist leaned over to Fitz and whispered. "Remind me never to leave our daughter with them."

"That's a little harsh.." Bobbi commented. The blonde-haired specialist surveyed the floor when she spotted a familiar face. "Babe."

Clint followed his lover's gaze and spotted Frankie, Jack and Lillian standing not too far away. "Time for a little family reunion."

* * *

"My dad's here?" Frankie could not believe his luck "this is just great."

"Dude, calm down," Jack advised.

"I'll calm down once we're on the plane out of here. Because if my parents find me, I am-," Frankie's voice trailed off as someone grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around "completely toast."

"Hey champ," Clint one look at his son and smiled. "Time for a little father son talk."

* * *

"I see the SHIELD agents."

James his heart quicken slightly at his sister's words. "Where?"

"On your left." Yelena swatted her brother's arms as he started to move his head that direction. "Don't do that. Remember what mom said? Look out of the corner of your eye."

"Right. Right. Anyway," James did what his sister suggested, spotting Mack and Hunter on the edge of his vision. "I see them."

Yelena nudged at James' backpack "Want to do your thing?"

"I got a better idea. Check out your left." James motioned to his head toward the security guard on the other side of them "You see what I see?"

Yelena smirked. "Time for another performance."

* * *

_"Looks like you kiddies picked up some shadows."_

Torunn tensed up at the sound of JOCASTA speaking through the Bluetooth in her ear, looking around to see May, Coulson, Lincoln and Daisy. "I see them."

"What do we do?" Morgan whispered.

"Plan G," Amadeus suggested eagerly.

"We are not doing Plan G," Torunn disputed "How many times do we have to tell you? You're the secret weapon."

"I hate being the secret weapon," Amadeus pouted "Everyone gets to fight before I do."

"Just figure out how to distract Jack's parents," Torunn instructed "I'll take care of the Inhumans. And don't use Plan G."

* * *

"So, how you holding up?"

May shrugged dismissively as she walked side by side with the Director of SHIELD. "It's not the first time I've to search a place without the help of security cameras."

"That's not what I meant," Coulson told her "You gave up on being a mother after Bahrain. And now you just met your future son."

"Which means I've got a few years before I become an old single mom."

"You're not old," Coulson disputed gently "And what makes you think you'll be single?"

"Can you honestly think of any man who'd want to have a kid with me?"

The leader of SHIELD resisted the urge to raise his hand as he spotted something in amongst the crowd. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"A kid," Coulson answered "in an Iron Man mask."

"Phil, there are kids in Iron Man masks all over the place."

"This one was blue." Coulson led May to an empty corner of the food court, where they found a small silver orb laying on the ground, the words _Parker Industries _written across the side.

_THWIP!_

The Director of SHIELD and the Calvary saw nothing but white as the orb exploded, trapping them both with synthetic webbing.

Morgan and Amadeus laughed as they appeared from behind one of the tables and took off down the hall, the daughter of Iron Man wearing the helmet of her mother's armor. "Too easy."

* * *

"How's it coming with the cameras?"

"It's not." Daisy let out a frustrated growl as she and Lincoln continued to search the mall. "This A.I is driving me nuts. At this rate it'll be hours before we find those kids."

_WHOOSH!_

At that moment, a blur red and yellow came flying in, slamming into Lincoln one of the food court tables. The electric Inhuman groaned as he looked up from the ground, the daughter of Thor standing over him as she cracked her knuckles. "Found one."

* * *

"We got eyes on Cap Jr. and Baby Widow." Mack radioed through the comms as he and Hunter spotted the two Rogers children walking away from them "approaching now."

"Mack." Hunter drew his friend's attention to Yelena, the little girl quickly flagging down a mall cop and speaking to him, pointing him in the direction of Mack and Hunter. "What do you think that's about?"

Mack glanced over his shoulder and spotted two mall cops walking towards them from behind "Looks like Yelena's pulling another fast one." Forcing a greeting smile, Mack turned and faced the approaching security guards, "Is there a problem, officers?"

The officer, on elder gentleman with the name "Stan" on his ID tag, gestured over towards James and Yelena, the children of Captain America and the Black Widow nervously poking their heads out from behind him. "You know those kids?"

"My niece and nephew," Hunter responded quickly "Lost track of them for second. So glad they're safe, nearly had a heart attack over those little rascals."

"What happened to the big fellow's head?" Stan asked.

Mack brought a hand to the welt on his forehead, remembering when Torunn threw him into a tree. "Work accident. I'm mechanic and I had so much oil on my hands I dropped a wrench on my head."

Stan didn't seem to be buying it.

"Well, if you don't mind, we'll just grab my niece and nephew and be on our way." The second Hunter took a step toward them, Yelena shrieked at the top of her lungs, clinging to her brother and the officer for dear life. "What was that about?"

"These kids say you tried to kidnap them," Stan replied.

"Kidnap?"

"H-he said he was going to sell my brother. And h-h-he s-ssaid," Yelena sobbed as she jabbed a trembling finger at Mack as tears flowed down her cheeks "he was going to mmm-make me his wife!"

On that note, the two of the officers slammed Mack and Hunter into the wall, giving the children of Captain America and the Black Widow the chance to slip away.

Yelena laughed. "I should get an Oscar!"

* * *

"For Asgard!"

Torunn swung wildly as she fought against Daisy and Lincoln, the daughter of Thor's fist leaving a dent in the wall as the electric Inhuman barely dodging her punch in time.

"This is crazy!" Daisy grabbed the young teenager's leg as she attempted to kick her. "We're not trying to fight you."

"Too bad. Because I love a good fight!" Torunn stated, snatching her foot out of Daisy's grasp before she punched her in the stomach.

"Would you just stop?" Lincoln demanded, grabbing the little girl from behind and pinned her arms against her sides. A move he would soon regret.

Torunn grinned as she jumped high into the air, leaning back as she and Lincoln began to fall back to the ground, the blonde-haired Inhuman letting a out a massive ground as he landed flat on his back. The princess of Asgard jumped onto her feet and charged at Daisy, hitting her with a massive right hook knocked the earth-shaking Inhuman right off her feet. Torunn looked at the agents of SHIELD and sighed. "I knew fighting you guys wouldn't be hard, but this is just boring."

Daisy groaned as she sat up on the floor, looking her boyfriend straight in the eye as she stated. "We are never having kids."

* * *

"Mom? Dad? I can't breathe." Lillian murmured, struggling to loosen her parents' loving hug.

"For the record, we totally did not want to leave the base," Jack stated "Frankie and his friends kidnapped us."

"It was not kidnapping, it was saving your lives. How did you guys even find us?" Frankie asked "JOCASTA scrambled your surveillance."

"Your uncle Tony told us where to find you," Clint answered. "Right after her crashed landed in your Aunt Laura's back forty."

"Uncle Tony's here? Is he okay?" Frankie asked quickly.

"He was pretty banged up when I found him, but he did fly off on his own to find you guys. So where are the others?"

"Oh they're around here somewhere. I'll go get them for you."

Clint's eyes widened in disbelief as his son backflipped over the railing, the son of Hawkeye rapidly descending toward the ground floor. The son of Hawkeye reached into his duffel bag and pulled out his bow, firing a grappling arrow into the far railing of the third floor. With the push of a button, the young archer's bow began to recoil the vibranium-laced cable, rapidly pulling him across the massive gap between the sides of the massive shopping center.

Clint watched in awe as his son climbed over the railing at the opposite side of the floor, waving to his parents before he took off running. "I honestly don't know whether to be proud or angry right now."

"Uncle Clint?" Jack tugged on the archer's sleeve as he revealed "We know where they're going. "

* * *

"Morgan, I got good news. Your dad's okay." Frankie informed, speaking into his Bluetooth as he walked at a rapid pace to the cloaked Quinjet hidden on the roof of the mall. "My dad says he's on his way here now."

"_That's good. Because I've got bad news."_

* * *

"Mandarin hacked into one of SHIELD's weapons," The daughter of Iron Man stood with Amadeus in a Starbucks, working away on her smartwatch "It isn't a part of SHIELD's main network so JOCASTA couldn't protect it. Now Mandarin has access to SHIELD's comms network."

"_You're telling me Mandarin knows where we are?" _Frankie asked _"That he sent a SHIELD superweapon after us?"_

"No," Morgan answered "I'm saying it's already here. And judging by its name, it is seriously nasty."

* * *

Frankie paused as Morgan spoke into his Bluetooth. "We need to get out of here. Fast." The young archer began to run, only to bump right into his father. "Worst birthday ever."

"That was a nice little exit you pulled off there," Clint complimented "But next time, you might want to try it a little farther from a bridge."

"Oh no, you found me. I'm in so much trouble," Frankie rambled off in a sarcastic tone, right he sincerely asked "You brought you bow, right?"

"It's on the plane," Clint eyes narrowed at his son sudden change of topic "Why?"

"Deathlock."

"Deathlock? What's Death-?" Before he could utter another word, Clint was grabbed by his shoulder and thrown across the mall, landing head first into a wall. Stifling a groan, Clint looked up and saw a man covered advanced cyber prosthetics, his face marred by third degree burns. "I'm guessing that's Deathlock."

Just before the cyborg could drive his fist between the archer's head, Bobbi Morse came charging in, slamming her fist against his face, right before delivering a roundhouse kick to his chest, knocking him back into the railing.

_THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!_

Before Deathlock could even move a muscle, Frankie pulled his quiver out his bag, rapidly firing three arrows at the cyborg's chest, covering in synthetic webbing.

Clint took in a deep breath as his girlfriend helped him to his feet, just as FitzSimmons, Lillian and Jack arrived. "Thanks, Bobbi baby."

"No problem." The blond agent glanced curiously at Deathlock as he struggled to break free from his bounds. "Who called Mike?"

"Mike?" Clint repeated "You know this guy?"

"He's a SHIELD agent," Fitz confirmed "one of his cybernetics must be malfunctioning."

"It's not a glitch," Frankie told him, keeping a web arrow aimed at the cyborg's chest. "Mandarin's controlling him."

"That's not good."

_WHAM!_

At that moment, Deathlock finally tore his way through the webbing, sending the SHIELD engineer flying with a massive uppercut.

"Fitz!" Simmons gasped.

"Dad!" Lillian shrieked.

"Fire in the hole!" Frankie shouted, firing a web arrow right in Deathlock's face. The cyborg staggered back as the cartridge exploded, covering his head in the sticky substance. "Uncle Thor's right. Always go for the head."

"Nice shot champ," Clint compliment "Now let your folks take care of this."

"Are you kidding?" Frankie's face beamed with excitement as he reloaded his bow. "This birthday's finally starting to turn around!"

* * *

"SHIELD has a cyborg named Deathlock? No wonder people say they're the bad guys." James stood in the middle of the crowd with Yelena, speaking with Morgan on their Bluetooths.

"_No kidding. And this guy's got this name for a reason. He's got almost as many guns as Uncle Rhodey," _Morgan commented _"Good news is, Mandarin wants us alive. The bad news, he doesn't really care what happens to anyone else."_

"Can you andJOCASTA hack Mandarin out of Deathlock?"

"_We're working on it. But it's going to take time," Morgan_ answered _"And there's no telling who Robocop could hurt until then."_

James knew what that meant. "Where's Deathlock now?"

"_Third floor, northwest corner. Oh, and he's fighting Frankie and his parents."_

* * *

"_Guys, Deathlock is compromised. I repeat Deathlock is here and is compromised."_

The second they heard Bobbi's warning on the comms, Mack and Hunter broke free from the officer's grasp, knocking them out in one shot. The two agents headed to the corner of their floor where they found James and Yelena, watching Frankie provide his parents cover fire as they battled Deathlock in hand-to-hand combat, while Simmons, Lillian and Jack hovered over a dazed Fitz.

Hunter grimaced. "Yep, that's Deathlock alright."

"We need to get down there," Mack insisted. "Hang on Bobbi, we're on our way."

"I got this." James quickly ran toward the railing and jumped over, the two SHIELD agents shouting in shock as Yelena watched calmly. As he soared through the air, James slammed his feet together, a strange object expanding from the soles of his feet: A long red metal board with a repulsor turbine on the bottom and the back edge, a Stark logo between his feet. The jet quickly roared to life, sending James flying through the air toward his friend and his parents below.

Hunter gasped. "That's a hoverboard. Mack, that kid's got a bloody hoverboard!"

"Yeah Hunter, I see it."

"Wait for me!" Yelena shouted. The daughter of the Black Widow rolled up her right sleeve, revealing the miniature version of the Widow's Bite on her arm and fired a grappling hook into the air, the hook meeting it's mark in one of the overhanging bridges as the line went taught, right before the little girl jumped over the railing in front of her and swung across the air.

Hunter's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "See what I mean? This kids are not bloody normal!"

* * *

Clint let out a grunt as Deathlock threw him across the mall like a ragdoll, the archer shattering a glass window as he slammed into a _Kohl's _display of mannequins.

"Clint!" Bobbi quickly ran to his defense, striking and parrying with her batons as best she could against her stronger opponent. Deathlock slammed his foot into her newly healed knee, the blonde-haired spy crying out in pain for only a second before he hit her again across the face.

"Okay, that's it!" Frankie's blood started to boil as he pressed a button on his bow, causing the archery weapon to turn into a sleek black bow staff. Time to do things the Morse way.

Deathlock's head whipped to the side as Frankie slammed the tip of his staff against the cyborg's jaw in a diagonal arc, right before he slammed jabbed it into his stomach. Before the boy could land another blow, Deathlock grabbed the staff with one hand as Frankie swung at his face stopping it mere inches from his face. Frankie grit his teeth as he kicked the cyborg in the stomach, a choice he quickly began to regret once his foot collided with solid metal.

"Ow!" The son of Hawkeye grabbed his foot with both hands as he started to hop up and down in pain. "Jeez! What did Uncle Leo make you out of, vibrianium?" The young archer's eyes widened as he realized he had dropped his weapon, right before Deathlock grabbed him with his free hand and raised him high in the air. "Uh, Jack?" Frankie gave his friend a desperate look as he feet dangled in the air "little help?"

Jack's heart raced. His hands shook. His lungs screamed for breath. To put it simply, he was terrified.

_WHAM!_

In a blur of red and black, James Rogers came flying in on his hoverboard, wearing an alien metal helmet with red lenses, slamming his shield into Deathlock's back, causing him to drop Frankie and his weapon. The son of Captain America quickly raised his shield in self-defense as Deathlock threw a massive punch his way, the impact of the cyborg's fist colliding with the large rubber disc causing the teenager's knees to buckle.

"That all you got?" James asked through grit teeth "Because I can do this all day!"

With a burst of strength, the son of Captain America pushed the cyborg back as he stood straight up, right before he threw his shield directly at Deathlock's head. James ran straight into battle as his shield bounced off the cyborg's head, catching it right before he slid between Deathlock's legs. James jumped back to his feet and spun around, jabbing his shield into the back of Deathlock's knee, weakening his balance right before Frankie grabbed his staff off the floor and hit the cyborg in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.

Frankie gasped for air as he leaned against his staff. "Thanks."

"No problem." James glanced at Jack and Lillian as he dusted himself off "Thought you said they could help."

* * *

Clint groaned as he rolled off his back and onto one knee, looking up to see Frankie and James standing over what appeared to be a subdued Deathlock. The kids beat the cyborg? Now Clint knew he was better off retired. The archer's eyes widened as he watched the children help Bobbi and Fitz to their feet, unaware of the cyborg getting up behind them.

The retired Avenger jumped to his feet and charged into the cyborg, slamming him into the side railing before he could lay a hand on Clint's son. The archer then wrapped both hands around Deathlock's throat, hoping to apply enough pressure to knock him out, only to be quickly overpowered. The cyborg's eyes widened as he spotted Frankie out of the corner of his vision, having transformed his staff back into a bow, preparing to take his shot. The mind-controlled agent pulled Clint in front of him as Frankie fired his arrow, causing it to hit the retired Avenger right in his back.

Clint cried out in pain and it shattered on impact, causing a three dozen copper ball bearings to scatter against his spine and shoulders.

Frankie cringed. "Sorry, Dad!"

Deathlock spun the archer around in his arms and put him in a choke hold, cutting off his oxygen when Yelena Rogers came into view, gracefully summersalting through the air.

The cyborg staggered back as daughter of the Black Widow landed on his shoulders, the sudden weight putting him off balance.

"Leave my Uncle Clint alone!" she shouted, pounding her tiny fists against the cyborg's head. The little girl's eyes widened as Deathlock reached up and grabbed her waist with both hands, holding her high in the air as she fought and kicked to get free.

"Put my sister down!" James' blood turned to fire as he charged at Deathlock, slamming his shield into the cyborg's chest, distracting him long enough for Yelena to get free.

The daughter of the Black Widow pushed off his chest with both feet as she leaned into a massive back flip, landing feet first on the floor. "I had him on the ropes."

"Yeah, right. What are you doing here?" James asked. "It's dangerous."

"I want to help."

The children of the Avengers quickly huddled together as the cyborg approached them.

"So what's the plan James?" Frankie asked.

"Run."

"Run?"

"RUN!" James repeated, right before the turned around and bolted.

Frankie and Yelena glanced at each blankly before they followed James' leading taking off into the mall with Deathlock with close behind them.

"Running away. Not your best plan," Frankie commented.

"It's just getting started," James promised, turning on his Bluetooth "Hey Torunn. You want to fight a cyborg?"

* * *

"Absolutely." The daughter of Thor tossed Daisy and Lincoln across the room as they attempted to restrain her, quickly overpowering them with her Asgardian strength. "These SHIELD agents are pathetic. Where's the cyborg?"

"_We're leading him to the amusement park," _James answered_ "Grab Morgan and Amadeus and meet us there."_

"I'm on it."

As she watched Torunn take off into the air, Daisy spotted May and Coulson out of the corner of her eye, hanging suspended in a giant spider's web. "This is a very weird day."

* * *

"Babe, do I have a concussion or did a tiny Natasha just save me from the cyborg?"

Bobbi sighed as she got up off the mall floor, gently rubbing her now throbbing knee. "That was James' sister. Yelena."

"Just checking. Like I said, I hit my head really hard." The archer groaned as he sat up, giving the Hunter and Mack a glare as they came into view. "Where have you been?"

"Being arrested for child trafficking," the british agent answered "Romanoff's daughter is a real piece of work."

"You okay Turbo?" Mack asked as he helped Fitz to his feet.

"I think so," the engineer slurred "When did Jemma's sister get here?"

"Okay. You definitely need to lay down," the mechanic decided "Where's the rest of the team?"

"First floor, south west corner." All eyes turned to Clint Barton as he spoke, the archer looking over the lower floors as stood in front of the railing. "Looks like the kids trapped Coulson and May in a giant spider web. Daisy and Lincoln are trying to get them out."

"How can you possibly see that?" Hunter demanded.

"It's his super power," Bobbi said with a hint of pride.

"I got eyes on the kids. James, Frankie and Yelena are leading Mike to the amusement park from the east. Torunn's leading the others there from the west."

"Why the amusement park?" Simmons asked.

"It's closed for reservations. They can take the fight to Mike with zero casualties and little collateral damage. It's smart." Clint felt a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. James was most definitely Cap's son.

"Let's move." Bobbi winced as she attempted to get up, her injured knee instantly buckling as she attempted to put weight on it.

"Take five, babe. I'll go after the kids. Hunter, keep an eye on her," Clint ordered "Then help Daisy and Lincoln get Coulson and May back in the game. Mack, get the FitzSimmons family and Jack back to the Zephyr." The former SHIELD agent sighed as he picked the duffel bag his son had left behind, finding a newly purchased compound bow and at least a dozen hand-made trick arrows inside. "I'm supposed to be retired."

* * *

"Excuse me! Coming through! Sorry!" James bobbed and weaved as he lead his sister and friend through the bustling crowds in the mall, keeping the cyborg just within sight.

"James."

The son of Captain America came to a skidding stop at the sound of his sister's voice, looking back to see Yelena standing alone in the middle of the crowd, gasping for air as the cyborg approached. James ran over and propped his little sister on his back, right before he activated his hoverboard and zoomed off. "Make sure to lead him to the amusement park!" he told Frankie.

"What?"Frankie's eyes widened as he sped up his pace with a groan. "Worst. Birthday. Ever!"

* * *

"This is why you need your inhaler." James slowed his hoverboard to a stop as his sister arrived at the amusement park, helping Yelena off his back and pulling out her inhaler, the daughter of Captain America taking in a deep breath of the much needed medicine. "Better?" James asked as he pressed a button on his helmet, causing it to turn back into his Bluetooth.

Yelena nodded as her lungs stopped burning. "Thanks."

"Psst! Guys." The children of Captain America and the Black Widow glanced over at one of the broken rides, where they found Morgan and Amadeus poking their heads out from the seat a derailed roller coaster car. "Over here," Morgan whispered, causing her friends to walk over "Where's the cyborg?"

"Frankie's leading him here now," James answered "Where's Torunn?"

Amadeus pointed to the top hill of the park's main roller coaster, where the daughter of Thor waved to her friends below.

"Okay. Torunn, when the cyborg gets here, you go all Ragnarok on him," James instructed through his Bluetooth "We need to keep Deathlock busy long enough for Morgan to kick Mandarin out of his system and shut him down. Me and Frankie will back you up. Got it?"

_"Verily." _The princess of Asgard answered _"That's old Asgardian for yes."_

"I want to help too," Yelena offered eagerly.

"Oh no." James picked his little sister up and placed her in the rollercoaster car next to Morgan. "The only reason Mom let you come to Frankie's camping party is because I promised her I'd keep you safe," he reminded "And that's what I'm going to do."

"But I want to help," Yelena repeated, as her brother pressed a button on her Bluetooth, causing it to transform into a replica of their aunt Carol's helmet. "I'm a super soldier too."

"You're also a seven year-old who just had an asthma attack. There is no way I am letting you fight a-,"

"CYBORG!" Frankie yelled as he came running into view with Deathlock hot on his trail "Cyborg behind me! Cyborg behind me! Whatever the plan is, do it now!"

"Torunn, go!" James shouted.

"For Asgard!" The daughter of Thor flew down and sucker-punched Deathlock, sending him flying straight into the side of the rollercoaster, leaving a large dent in the side of the track. "And there's more where that came from." Torunn beamed with excitement as she pulled a metal sword hilt out of her pocket, pressing a button that transformed it into her beloved sword Godslayer, a gift from the fiercest woman in the galaxy.

The little warrior princess raised her weapon high as she prepared to strike, only to have Deathlock fire an ICr into the young Asgardian's stomach. Torunn staggered back as the chemicals quickly coursed through her veins, her vision and head becoming blurred and fuzzy.

"Huh." Torunn started swaying side to side as her speech slurred. "It's going to take a lot more than that to stop-," Torunn's eyes rolled behind her head as Mike fired twice more, causing the young Asgardian collapse to the ground.

"Torunn!" James ran over to his best friend's side, desperately trying to wake her to no avail.

Frankie didn't know what was going on, but he knew it wasn't good. "Amadeus?"

"Plan G?"

"You got it."

"Yes!" The little boy grinned from ear to ear as he jumped out of the car, running to his friends "Finally! It's time. To,"

_THWIP!_

The children jumped as an arrow went whizzing through the air and hit Deathlock in the back, exploding into a tangled mess of synthetic webbing.

"You kids okay?" Clint asked, walking into view as he carried his son's compound bow and duffel bag.

"Uncle Clint," James gave the archer a fearful look "Torunn won't wake up."

Clint slung his bow over his shoulder and walked over to the unconscious girl, lifting her shirt to inspect the blue-tinted marks on her stomach. "ICr. SHIELD's heavy duty tranquilizer darts. Don't worry, she'll be fine. Thor's little princess is just taking a nap." As if to prove his point, pulled out his own ICr and fired a shot into Deathlock's chest, dropping him to the ground.

Clint frowned when he noticed the nervous look on their children's face. "Kids, what's wrong?"

"You should've aimed for the head." Frankie drew his father's attention back to Deathlock, the cyborg slowly rising from the ground as he tore threw the webbing around his chest.

Clint quickly reloaded his bow and fired, letting out a sigh as the arrow exploded in a splatter of bright red paint as it collided with Deathlock's chest. He'd forgotten these trick arrows had been made by a fourteen year old.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this Bobbi's way. Kids run," Clint ordered "I'll hold him off." The retired Avenger proceeded to charge the cyborg, leaping into the air to launch a butterfly kick straight into Deathlock's face. As Deathlock staggered back, Clint continued his assault with his bow, slamming it into Mike's ribs, right before spinning around and delivering another blow to the cyborg's jaw. It didn't even faze him. With one punch, Deathlock sent Clint flying, the archer groaning as his back slammed against the metal railing of the rollercoaster. "I'm supposed to be retired."

* * *

"This isn't right."

"That's an understatement."

"No." Fitz shook his head as he, Simmons, Daisy stood on the Zephyr with Jack and Lillian, desperate to find a way into Deathlock's overridden system. "Simmons, look at Mike's bio-readings."

"You're right. The second he began to experience the effects of the ICR, there was a massive spike in adrenaline, causing his body to burn through it in seconds."

"It's almost as if…'" Fitz's voice trailed off as he and Simmons came to the same dreaded conclusion.

"As if his body was purposefully trying to remove the ICR from his system," she finished.

"Why does it sound like that's not a good thing?" Daisy assumed.

"Because it isn't," Fitz confirmed "Barton, I need you to search Mike for any new upgrades."

_"You've got to be kidding me!"_

* * *

Clint ducked as Deathlock swung a massive haymaker over his head, the archer countering with a jab to the ribs, backflipping out of reach as he fired a small explosive arrow at Mike's chest, the attack not even slowing him down. "You want me to search the guy while he's trying to take me head off?"

_"Just look for a capsule containing an amber liquid," _Fitz instructed_ "It should be attached to one of his cybernetics."_

Clint quickly deflected another one of Deathlock's attacks, trapping the cyborg's arm in his bow before twisting it behind his back. There he spotted a small canister filled with a glowing orange liquid, welded into the metal plate that covered the back of shoulders. "Found it. Now what?"

Daisy glanced at the nervous looks on Fitz and Simmons' faces and frowned. "Why do you two look like this just got worse?"

"Because," Simmons swallowed a lump in her throat as she responded "Mike is on Extremis."

* * *

Clint could not believe his luck. "I'm sorry, but did you just say Extremis?"

As if on cue, a dose of the serum was injected into Mike's body, causing him to shatter Clint's bow and send the Avenger flying. The archer groaned as he slammed into the ground, looking up to see Deathlock preparing the finishing blow. Suddenly, the cyborg's arm stopped in mid air, a strange red aura quickly spreading over his body, sending Mike flying into the air. Clint turned around and saw none other than Wanda Maximoff.

* * *

"How did you ever manage to survive before me and my brother?"

Clint groaned as the Scarlet Witch helped him to his feet. "Lots of luck. Although I think it's finally starting to run out."

"Clint." Bobbi came running into the amusement park with Mack, Hunter, Lincoln, May and Coulson by her side, frowning when she spotted the newest female Avenger. "You called them?"

"Nope. But I wish I had," the archer commented as he stretched out his back "What are you doing here anyway, Wanda?"

"Shopping. We wanted to get some new outfits for our Girl's Night."

Clint frowned. "We?"

"Uh, guys? We have another problem." Hunter drew the agents and Wanda's attention to the large gaping hole at the top of the rollercoaster "Where's Deathlock?"

* * *

"Guys, wait a second." The children of the Avengers came to a halt as Frankie spoke up, the young archer helping James carry the sleeping Torunn as the small group tried to make their to the roof where their stolen Quinjet was hidden. "I just got a text from Jack," he informed, turning on his smartwatch.

"Who cares?" Morgan asked "There's a murdering cyborg on our tails!"

"The text is about the cyborg. It says that Mandarin gave Deathlock something called Extremis. Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Because it's from my dad's bedtime stories," Morgan answered "This guy named Killian used it to turn soldiers into human bombs."

"My dad's fighting a cyborg with a self-destruct timer?" Frankie's heart jumped up to his throat "I got to help him!"

"I'll go with you," James offered "but first we need to get Torunn back to the jet. Audrey, you and Yelena stay there and figure out how to fix Deathlock."

"I want to come with you," Amadeus pleaded "Can I come with you? Please let me go with you!"

"Fine. You can come in case we need Plan G."

"Yes!"

"James, there's a lot of people here," Frankie reminded "Do you really think Plan G's a good idea?"

"I think we need to save Uncle Clint and get out of here fast," the red-headed boy answered "Before any more of our parents show up."

"Uh, James?" Yelena drew her brother's attention to a group of familiar faces standing before them, their arms full of shopping bags: Pepper Potts, Maria Hill, Jane Foster and Natasha Romanoff.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"James?" Natasha took a tentative step towards the kids, her eyes locked on her son in astonishment "Is that you, baby?"

"Uh, hi Mom," James greeted with a nervous smile "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I can't believe it," Natasha's heart stopped when she spotted the little girl standing next to her son "Yelena?"

"Hi Mama."

Natasha let out a small gasp, bending down to her daughter's level and gently stroking the side of her face, tears glistening in her eyes "My beautiful baby girl."

"Torunn? Torunn sweetie, wake up." Jane Foster dropped her bags as she hurried over to her daughter's side, gently stroking her face as she attempted to get any sort of response out of her daughter "Sweetie, it's me. It's Mom."

The daughter of Thor let out a soft hum as she stirred in her sleep. "Five more minutes, Mummy."

"Don't worry, Aunt Jane," James reassured her "she's just sleepy."

The astrophysicist tilted her head as she inspected her daughter's shirt. "Are these bullet holes?"

"Not exactly."

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Morgan asked as she took off her helmet "This mall doesn't sell _Chanel._"

"Wanda's father used to come here with his friends before he moved to Sokovia. We thought we'd let her see it for herself before our, wait a minute." Pepper's eyes widened as she realized what the little girl had just said. "Did you just call me _mom?_"

"Aunt Pepper, meet you future daughter Morgan Stark. I'm Frankie," the young archer introduced "the birthday boy. And that's Amadeus," he finished, causing the ten-year-old to give a friendly wave.

"Judging by that bow on your back, I'm guessing you're Clint's kid?" Natasha assumed.

"Yup. And right now, all I want for my birthday is for my Auntie Tasha to save my dad from the cyborg."

"What cyborg?"

Natasha turned around when she heard a large thud, spotting a large man covered in metal and severe burns standing behind her.

Frankie's face turned stark white. "That cyborg! Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!"

"Wait!" Maria shouted. But it was too late.

Natasha quickly whipped out her gun and fired, the people scattering in panic as the Black Widow unleashed a barrage of bullets. Mike staggered back as a bullet pierced his collar bone, his skin quickly turning a glowing amber, the Extremis flowing through his body and repairing the bone and forcing out the bullet, sealing the wound in a matter of seconds.

Natasha blinked. "That's new."

"Auntie Tasha!" Natasha's eyes widened as she turned head around and saw Frankie holding a loaded bow, a sparkling fuse quickly burning away to the band of firecrackers wrapped around the arrow. "Duck!"

Natasha pushed Yelena and Amadeus to the ground as the Frankie fired, the young archer hiding behind James' shield along with him and the unconscious Torunn while Pepper, Jane and Maria covered their faces, a dozen of tiny fireworks going off mere inches away from Deathlock's face, the cyborg staggering back, blinded and disoriented.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" James shouted.

"Because my dad has the rest of my arrows!"

Natasha quickly grabbed her daughter and jumped over a railing, using her grappling hook to swing the two of them down to the floor below. "Yelena?" The Black Widow gave her child a deeply concerned look as she asked "Are you alright?"

"That was fun Mama," the little girl giggled "Let's do it again."

"Maybe later, baby."

"Mom, look out!"

Natasha whipped her head around at the sound of James' warning, only spot Deathlock's fist as he hit her in the jaw with a massive right hook. The Black Widow let out a grunt as she fell to the ground, dropping the child in her arms.

Yelena's eyes widened as she propped herself up on her elbows, instantly spotting the cyborg as it stalked toward them. "Leave my Mama alone!" she demanded, right before she fired a shot from the Widow's bite on her arm.

Deathlock staggered back as a blast of webbing hit him in the face, pulling at the sticky substance blurring his vision.

"I did it! Mama, did you see me?" Yelena asked as Natasha picked her up and carried her into a nearby _Macy's _store "Did you see what I did?"

"Yes I did, baby. You did such a good job." The Black Widow praised as she set her daughter behind one of the makeup counters. "Now I need you to stay here while Mama takes care of the bad cyborg."

"But I can help."

"It's too dangerous. This is a grown up problem."

"Then how come James gets to help?"

"James?"

Yelena pointed out the store window to the main hallway, where her brother was sitting on Deathlock's shoulders, once again wearing the helmet given to him by Mr. Quill, pressing his shield against the cyborg's throat.

"James!" Natasha leapt over the counter and ran outside the store. "James, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry Mom!" he shouted as he struggled to keep from falling off the cyborg's shoulders "I got him! I got him! I, whoa!" James' eyes widened as Deathlock reached up and grabbed his arms, throwing the son of Captain America onto the floor. James groaned. "Don't got him."

As the cyborg ripped the last of the webbing from his eyes, Natasha came charging in and slammed her knee into Deathlock's chest, right before spinning into a powerful roundhouse kick. As the cyborg staggered back from the blow, the Black Widow threw an electric disk into his chest, causing a thousand volts of electricity to course through his body as his muscles went rigid.

"Nice shot Mom," James praised, right before Natasha grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into _Macy's._

"Are you out of your mind?" she asked in a hushed whisper "What were you thinking, trying to fight that guy? You're only," Natasha blinked as she noticed her son was taller than she was "How old are you now?"

"Thirteen."

"And you think that makes you big enough to make to fight a cyborg?"

"I was watching your six," James justified "Besides, he hit you."

"James," Natasha felt a smile pulling at her lips as she saw the protective fire in her son's eyes "I can take care of myself."

"I know that. You're the Black Widow. Bad guys ran and hide everytime you walk in the room," he stated proudly "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let them hit you and get away with it. I can help Mom," James insisted "You saw me out there. I can fight. We could be like _The Incredibles._"

"We are not _The Incredibles. _You want to help?" she asked as she reloaded her pistol "Your baby sister's behind the makeup counter. Go over there and make sure she stays safe."

"Yes ma'am," James agreed in a disappointed tone "But if that cyborg hits you again, I'm coming over there and I'm going to punch his lights out."

"Okay baby." Natasha smiled as she gave her son a gentle kiss on the head "Now go."

James nodded as he ran off, jumping over the makeup counter and landing next to his sister.

"Where's Mama?" Yelena asked.

"She's going to fight the cyborg."

"By herself?" Yelena's eyes widened as she gasped "Are we backup?"

"I'm backup," James corrected "You're the baby that needs to stay out of trouble."

"I'm not a baby," Yelena protested.

The two siblings jumped as they heard a loud crash, poking their heads out from under the counter to look for any sign of their mother, spotting her sitting on the ground upon a shattered mannequin, with the mind-controlled cyborg standing over her.

Natasha shook her head as she saw her son attempt to come to her aid, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth as she rose to her feet and glared up at Deathlock. "I don't know who you are. And I don't care."

The Black Widow taped into her maternal fury as she leaped into the air, performing a perfect bicycle kick, slamming her foot into the side of Mike's face. The Avenger landed gracefully on her feet as she continued her attack, a merciless onslaught of perfectly placed blows against the mind-controlled SHIELD agent. A jab to the face. A knee to the ribs. An elbow to the nose followed by a roundhouse kick right in the chest. "Nobody messes with my kids."

"Go mom," Yelena whispered, her eyes sparkling with pride as she watched Natasha do battle.

But James wasn't smiling. Unlike his sister, he had learned the hard way that their mother was not invincible.

* * *

"Come on, Nana," Frankie let out a frustrated grunt as he continued to argue with Maria Hill, the two of them caught in a bout of tug-of-war over her pistol "I just need to borrow it!"

"Absolutely not!" she snapped, "I am not giving my lethal weapon to kid who wants to play hero! You could miss."

"Bartons never miss!" Frankie disputed in a deeply offended tone. "Fine," the young archer huffed as he let go of the gun "I'll do it Mom's way," he decided, turning his bow into a staff.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Maria grabbed the birthday boy by the collar of his jacket as he attempted to run off, jabbing a finger at the _Macy's _store below. "Do you have any idea who Natasha is fighting down there?"

"Yeah, a mind-hacked cyborg with self-destruct app!" Frankie answered "If Mr. Peterson pulls a Crossbones and takes Auntie Tasha and her kids, Uncle Cap's going to kill me!"

"Can we do plan G?" Amadeus requested eagerly "Please tell me we can do plan G."

"No. Mr. Peterson's been turned into a human bomb," Frankie reminded "Plan G and bombs don't mix. Besides, what if he blew up in your face? You want to send us to your funeral?"

Amadeus scoffed. "You don't know it'll kill me."

"You don't know it won't."

"Stop it!" Morgan shouted "Stop talking about funerals and dying! No one's going to die!" she insisted, "I'm going to hack Deathlock's systems, I'm going to dropkick the Mandarin out of his cyberspace, and I am NOT going to anymore funerals!"

"Morgan," Pepper gave her daughter a deeply concerned look as she saw the fear in the little girl's eye "Did something?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Now can you all please be quiet so I can work please?" Morgan requested. The daughter of Iron Man took a shaky breath as she began to type away on her smatchwatch's holographic display, her face of determination quickly turning to fear and dread. "No. No, no, no!" The little girl's voice started to tremble as she revealed. "I can't do it."

Frankie's stomach sank to his knees. "What do you mean you can't do it?"

"Mandarin just kicked me out of the system. If I try to hack Deathlock with my smartwatch again, his Extremis levels will go to critical and he'll blow up and Auntie Tasha and James and Yelena will, will,"

"Morgan?" Pepper quickly hurried over to her daughter's side, the little girl's eyes filling with tears as she gasped for breath "Morgan, it's okay," she told her softly, recognizing the signs of Stark panic attack "It's okay, honey. Just breathe. Breathe, honey."

"No more funerals," she gasped in a terrified voice "No more funerals."

"No one's going to a funeral, honey. No one's going to a funeral," Pepper promised, wiping the tears from her daughter's cheeks "We're going to figure this out and help Aunt Natasha. Now you said you couldn't use your smartwatch. Could you use my phone?" she suggested "Or a computer from an internet cafe?"

"No. No," Morgan repeated, shaking her head "Those, those aren't strong enough. I'd need a supercomputer with direct access to the SHIELD mainframe."

Frankie's eyes lit up. "Guys? I think I know where to find one."

* * *

"Natasha's here? I'm dead." Clint paced back and forth in the amusement park, his heart racing from Wanda's revelation. "I'm so dead."

"Babe, will you calm down?" Bobbi asked.

"Can't calm down. Nat never thought she would have kids until James showed up," Clint explained "If she finds out that's he's back and that he and brought Natasha 2.0 with him and that they're being chased by a murderous cyborg and that I didn't tell her, she's going to put a bullet right between my-," the archer's words were cut short as his phone began to ring, causing him to pull it out of his pocket and bring it to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Dad!"_

"Frankie!" Clint's eyes lit up at the sound of his son's voice "Where are you? Uh-huh. Uh-huh," Clint repeated "Okay. Yeah, we took the Zephyr. It's a mile south of the mall. I'll meet you there," he promised and he hung up the phone. "Good news, I know where the kids are," he informed Bobbi "Bad news, I'm _dead._"

* * *

"Got it. Morgan, come on!"

Maria's eyes widened as she watched the son of Hawkeye and the daughter of Iron Man take off running. "Where are you going?"

"To save Auntie Tasha," Morgan answered. "You stay here until backup shows up."

"Since when do you give me orders?"

"Wait for me!" Amadeus shouted as he attempted to follow his friends.

"No!" The former right hand of SHIELD jabbed a finger in the little boy's face "You stay here."

"Ah, man!" the little boy huffed and crossed his arms as he watched friends run off with Maria behind them. "Everyone gets to smash but me!"

* * *

Natasha grunted as Deathlock slammed her into the wall, rolling out of the way just in time as his fist created a dent in the wall. He was getting stronger. And since something in the cyborg's nuts and bolts made him heal fast, so shooting him to death wasn't an option. Especially with Natasha's children watching.

"Hey Mom," James called as he poked his head out behind the makeup counter "Are you sure you don't want me to help?"

"Stay there babies," Natasha ordered, delivering a massive kick to the cyborg's stomach. "Mama's got this."

"I am not a baby!" Yelena protested.

"Just checking. By the way, Frankie called," James informed "He talked to Uncle Clint and back-up's on the way."

"Good to kn-,"

_BAM!_

Natasha's words were cut short with Deathlock delivered a massive right hook to her stomach, sending the Black Widow crashing into the ground, while her children watched in horror.

Suddenly, a concentrated sonic boom rang through the air, sending Deathlock flying across the store.

"Sorry Mike, but you need a timeout."

Natasha frowned when she spotted a young Asian woman with short, dark hair and soft brown eyes approached her. "Who are you?"

"Daisy Johnson," the young woman informed "Agent of SHIELD. Big fan by the way," she added with a smile.

Natasha groaned slightly as the SHIELD agent helped her to her feet. "What's SHIELD got to do with this?"

"Your kids time traveled back into one of our safehouses. We were trying to get them back after they got out of our base."

The two women whipped their heads around at the sound of a little girl screaming, where they saw Deathlock attempting to wrestle Yelena out from behind the makeup counter.

"Leave her alone!" James shouted. The young teenager quickly hefted his shield and slammed it into the cyborg's arm, causing him to cry out in pain and release his grip on Yelena.

_VOOM!_

The Inhuman spy thrust her arm and unleashed another sonic blast, sending Deathlock flying across the store and crashing into a mannequin display.

"Don't." Daisy ripped the pistol from Natasha's hand as she prepared to put a bullet in between Mike's eyes.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't put down the cyborg trying to kill my babies?"

"I am not a baby!" Yelena repeated.

"That cyborg has a name," Daisy reminded "Mike Peterson. He is a father, a SHIELD agent, and a friend. Someone hacked into his systems, sent him after the kids. We think it's a plan to lure out Stark."

Natasha growled. "I'm going to kill Tony."

James did not like this one bit. Out of all the SHIELD agents he'd met, Daisy Johnson was the one he trusted the least.

* * *

"This is not good." Fitz paced back and forth on the Zephyr as he stared at the main computer "Mike's Extremis levels are still rising. If this keeps up he could detonate."

"That's why I'm here!" Morgan announced as she came racing in with Frankie and Maria right behind her. "Move," she ordered, pushing Fitz away as she connected her smart watch to the plane's holotable. "I need to keep _your _cyborg from killing _my _aunt."

"Frankie?"

"Dad!" The birthday boy's eyes widened as Clint came running in with Coulson by his side.

"Oh, thank God," the archer let out a breath of relief he gave his son a hug. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Here are your arrows," Frankie offered, grabbing his father's quiver off the floor.

"Here's yours," Clint repeated, dropping his son's duffel bag "Hope I didn't smash any of your presents. Now you stay here."

"But,"

"No buts," Clint interrupted "Nat's already gonna kill me for letting Mike chase her kids around, I don't need your mom getting mad at me too. FitzSimmons, you help Morgan give Mike a morality reboot. Hill, you're with me and Coulson."

"On it," Maria said with a nod, strapping on a bullet-proof vest and grabbing an assault rifle.

"Actually, I think it's best if I stay here," Coulson decided in a less than convincing tone.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "You're afraid of what Natasha and Pepper will do to you once they find out you're alive, aren't you?"

"Completely terrified."

Clint chuckled. "Can't say I blame you."

"Wait, you want me to work with them?" Morgan asked as her uncle and nanny took off "Why would I work the guys who made the evil cyborg trying to kill my Auntie Tasha?"

"Hey. Mike is not evil," Fitz insisted.

"His codename is Deathlock! Who gives a good guy a name like Deathlock?"

Frankie huffed as he took a seat next to Jack, watching the scientists argue over their work. "Worst. Birthday. Ever."

* * *

Natasha slammed her knee into Mike's chest, giving Daisy the perfect opening to land a massive right to the jaw, sending the cyborg staggering back. "You've got skills. May train you?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because she trained me. She ever teach you this one?" Natasha charged and leapt onto the cyborg's body, wrapping her legs around his waist and spinning around to face his back. The Black Widow locked her arms around his shoulders, pinning his arms back as she wrapped a thin metal cable around his neck, pulling him down to the ground, the cable cutting off the air to his lungs.

Dethlock grunted as his skin started to glow, the cable slowly burning away as the Extremis coursed through his veins.

Daisy quickly unleashed her powers, firing a small shock wave on Deathlock's chest, keeping him pinned as Natasha continued to suffocate him. Daisy grit her teeth "Come on, Mike. Go to sleep."

Deathlock screamed as the dosage increased, the cable snapping from his neck as he broke his arm free.

_BANG!_

Daisy screamed as the bullet pierced her arm, blood seeping from the wound as she grit her teeth.

"Morgan," James' heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he watched his mother scrambling for cover as Deathlock unleashed a wall of machine gun fire "Do something!"

* * *

"_Deathlock's going full Terminator!"_

"Oops."

Morgan glared at the guilt-ridden Fitz. "What did you do?"

"There was a foreign firewall," he stammered.

"_I _put that firewall up!" Morgan shouted. "You just unlocked Deathlock's lethal programming!" The daughter of Iron Man groaned "This is why you never send a SHIELD agent to do an Avengers' job."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you guys keep making messing that my family always to clean up!" Morgan snapped "And FYI, you're fired."

"What? You can't fire me," Fitz scoffed.

"Do your homework. SHIELD was founded by my Grandpa Howard, meaning that it is a subsidiary of Stark Industries," Morgan rationalized "which means, my family owns it. Which means I can fire you. James, we'll work on shutting down the weapons system," she promised "but it's going to take time."

* * *

"We don't have time!" James cringed as Deathlock continued to do battle with his mother. The Black Widow fired a three punch combo to his face only to be grabbed by the throat and slammed her against the wall, slowly cutting off the air from her lungs.

"James?" Yelena coughed and wheezed as her asthma started to get the better of hur, unaware that her legs were slowly turning to dust.

"No. No, no, no." James' heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he attempted to rush to his mother's aid, only to stumble to the ground as his legs slowly turned to dust.

Suddenly, a red aura surrounded Mike's arm, pulling his fingers away from Natasha's throat. The scarlet whips of light quickly spread over Mike and covered his entire body, bringing him to his knees as he struggled to break free.

"You alright?" Wanda asked as she walked in with Hunter, Mack, Bobbi and Lincoln following behind her.

"Yeah, thanks." After taking a breath, Natasha scrambled to her feet when she heard the sound of violent coughing, looking over the makeup counter to find a red-faced Yelena wheezing in her brother's arms. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's her asthma." James handed his little sister and her inhaler over to their mother.

"_Yelena, it's okay. It's okay baby," _Natasha repeated in Russian, gently rocking her little girl back and forth _"Mama's here. Mama's got you. Just take your medicine and you'll be all better," _she instructed, as her daughter took a long breath from her inhaler _"That's it. Good girl."_

"_Ice cream."_

"_What?"_

Yelena took a deep breath as she asked in her mother's native tongue. _"Can we get...ice cream?"_

Natasha cracked a smile at her daughter's request. _"Yes baby. We can go get ice cream," _she promised, giving Yelena a kiss on the head _"All the ice cream you want."_

As he watched his mother soothe his sister, James remembered his two worst memories: watching the newborn Yelena fighting to breath in the hospital and standing in front of Natasha's tombstone.

"Is she okay?" Bobbi asked "James mentioned her asthma can get pretty bad."

"I think so." Natasha gave her friend a look as she realized. "You knew that my kids were you danger and didn't tell me anything?"

"Sorry, Director wanted to keep it in house." Bobbi rolled her eyes as Natasha gave her the infamous Russian Death Glare. "That works on Clint, not me." she reminded while she inspected the wound in Daisy's arm, the upper half of her sleeve now covered in blood "looks like it went clean through. But we should take to you to Simmons to get checked out."

"I'll be fine," Daisy winced briefly as she rose to her feet "but first we need to help Mike."

_WHAM!_

The Avengers and the Agents of SHIELD all jumped back in surprise as James Rogers bull-rushed Deathlock with the speed of his hoverboard, pinning the cyborg into the display window and cracking it. The son of Captain America raised his shield high and slammed into Deathlock's face, over and over, shouting at the top of his lungs. "That's! My! Mother! Nobody! Hurts! My! Mother!"

"James!" Natasha grabbed her son's arm as he raised his shield high with both hands, stopping him it driving down on Deathlock's head.

James blinked as Natasha's voice pulled him out of his rage, dropping his shield to the ground as his mother pulled him close.

"_It's okay baby," _Natasha whispered in Russian, tightening her grip on him as she realized his was shaking _"I'm okay."_

James stayed silent as he held his mother tight, reminded himself that that day after that tombstone went up, his father tore it down.

* * *

"That dude is crazy." Jack shook his head in disbelief as he sat on the Zephyr, having just watched James nearly beat the cyborg SHIELD agent bloody on the hacked mall security feed.

"No," Frankie disagreed, keeping himself busy by opening his birthday presents. "Mr. Peterson had that coming."

"He was brainwashed," Lillian reminded sharply.

"Which is why I'm not going down there to put an arrow in his head for going after my godmother. Oooh," Frankie's eyes lit up as he opened the present from his friend Azari: a six-piece set of pure vibranium arrows. "Very nice."

* * *

"Mama," Yelena whined impatiently as she sat on the edge of the makeup counter, kicking her feet back and forth "You said we could get ice cream."

"I know baby. Mama didn't forget," Natasha promised "The grownups just need to finish up some work first."

"Looks like we missed the party." Clint walked into the store with Maria by his side, where he found his best friend sitting with her children. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Natasha confirmed giving the archer a brief hug "Johnson's a little banged up, but she'll live. Wanda's keeping the cyborg subdued until Morgan finishes the reboot."

Clint whistled as he glanced at the unconscious cyborg surrounded in scarlet lights, his face covered in cuts and bruises. "You sure did a number on him."

"It wasn't me." Natasha glanced at her as he sat on the makeup counter next to Yelena, staring menacingly at the restrained cyborg, mentally daring him to move an inch.

Clint's eyes widened. "James did that?"

"Knocked out three of his teeth."

"Must have his dad's right hook. Speaking of Cap, how are things between you two?"

"Same as before," Natasha felt a familiar pain in her heart flare up at the mention of the first Avenger, glancing over her shoulder at her children as they waited for their friend to call back. "I never thought I'd see them again."

* * *

Torunn Foster groaned as she woke up in a daze, her head groggy as she took in her surroundings, quickly spotting a familiar face. "Mum?"

"Torunn!" The astrophysicist's face lit up as she instinctively wrapped her arms around her daughter. "You're okay!"

"What are you doing here?" Torunn asked as her mother helped her to her feet, "What's going on?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Pepper commented.

"Hey!" The daughter of Thor's blood began to boil as her gaze drifted down the _Macy's _store below her, where she spotted a bound Deathlock in the window. "That's the bugger that shot me!"

"Wait!" Jane shouted, only for her daughter to jump over the balcony and fly towards the store.

"Yeah Torunn, wait for me!" Amadeus called "I can't fly, remember?"

"That is not what I," Jane sighed as the little boy chased after her. "Motherhood is not easy," she told Pepper.

"Tell me about it."

* * *

"Mama, Morgan texted back," Yelena informed "She says she's almost done fixing the cyborg. Now can we go get ice cream?"

"Soon baby."

Wanda let out a breath of relief as Clint fired an arrow into Deathlock's chest, the shaft exploding on impact and wrapping his chest in tight metal coils. "Thanks." Even though keeping an unconscious man restrained didn't take much of her powers, doing it long-term still consumed her stamina.

"No problem. So listen, since my son technically is yet to be born, I've been thinking about what would be a good middle name for him," Wanda stared curiously at the archer as he went on "and I was thinking about Pietro."

Wanda's jaw hung open as tears formed in her eyes.

"Figured I'd get your get your okay on it before I ask Bobbi."

"Francis Pietro." The Scarlet Witch took a shaky breath as she smiled "I like it."

Clint smiled. "Yeah me too."

The two Avengers jumped as they heard a loud thud, turning around to see Torunn Foster pointing her sword at Deathlock's throat as she pinned him against the makeup counter.

"Hey," the princess of Asgard dropped the cyborg to the ground with a disappointed pout "This bugger's already out cold."

"Torunn!" Jane Foster huffed as she hurried into the store, with Pepper and Amadeus right behind her "Sweetie, what were you thinking?"

"That I saw a bad guy that needed smiting," she answered, "But somebody got to him first."

"James made him take a nap after he tried to hurt Mama," Yelena explained.

"Dude, way to go! High five!" Amadeus grinned cheerfully as he raised his hand in front of his friend's face "Don't leave me hanging."

James didn't move a muscle, his eyes fixed on Deathlock as he stayed quiet.

"James?" Tourrn's face quickly became worried as she noticed the fear and rage in her best friend's eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked, only to be answered with silence. She had seen that look on her best friend's face before, on her father. Every year on the anniversary of The Snap. "The Mad Titan's gone James," Torunn whispered "He's not coming back."

James finally pulled his gaze away from they cyborg as his best friend slipped her hand in his, only for the two teenagers to pull away from each other when they realized their parents were watching.

"Kids," Jane's face broke into a massive smile as she asked "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"No," James and Torunn said together.

Yelena giggled. "They're in love."

"Shut. Up," James hissed.

"Now he talks," Clint chuckled.

Natasha's face shifted into a deep scowl as Torunn backed away from her son, the Black Widow leaning over to Jane as she told her "Keep your daughter away from my son."

* * *

"And...done." Morgan huffed as she stepped away from the Zephyr holotable, a proud and triumphant smile on her face. "Your cyborg's systems are now officially Mandarin free. Tell your boss to expect my bill in his inbox."

"Bill?" Simmons repeated.

"What? You think I do tech support like this for free?" The daughter of Iron Man gasped as her smartwatch began to ring, her heart skipping a beat as she read the familiar caller ID right before she answered the call on her Bluetooth. "Daddy?"

"_Morgan!"_

"Daddy!" Morgan repeated with a teary smile "Daddy, are you okay? Where are you?"

"_Morgan," _Tony repeated through a wall of increasing static _"You need to ...your mother. The….on his way...five minutes out...soon as I can...three thousand."_

"Daddy? Daddy, I can't hear you. What was that about Mom? Daddy? Daddy!" Morgan repeated, only for a knot to form in her stomach as the line went dead.

* * *

Mike Peterson let out a groan as his eyes slipped open, rolling around on the floor as he struggled to sit upright.

"Mike?" Daisy gave friend a concerned expression "Are you okay?"

"I think so," the cyborg winced as he propped himself up against the makeup counter, poking his tongue against his cheek "Why are my teeth missing?"

"Touch my mom again and you'll lose a lot more than that," James promised.

Clint raised an eyebrow as he noticed the look on his best friend's face. "What are you so happy about?"

Natasha's smile widened as the children surrounded her in a protective hug. "I'm their favorite."

_KOOM!_

The Avengers and the agents of SHIELD jumped as the crack of thunder roared closely in the distance.

"Don't look at me," Torunn stated as everyone started to stare "I didn't do it."

"Guys? You might want to see this," Wanda Maxmoff drew the other's attention to outside the store window, where a massive bolt of green lightning crackled in midair. "What is that?"

_Nothing good, _Clint thought to himself. "Babe? I think we should,"

"Get the kids to the Zephyr?" Bobbi finished.

"You know me so well," The archer quickly let out a sigh as he turned around, only to find that the children had disappeared. "Not again."

* * *

"Let me go!" Morgan demanded. The second she saw that bolt of lightning appear on the mall security, the daughter of Iron Man knew exactly what her father's warning was about. "I got to save my mom!"

"Save her from what?" Coulson questioned, holding the squirming child back as tried to make a break for the exit "What is that thing? What's going on?"

_POP!_

Coulsn's body went rigid as his veins turned blue, right before he collapsed to the ground.

"I have got to get me one of these," Frankie commented, holding one of SHIELD's signature non-lethal weapons.

Fitz could not believe his eyes. "Did you just use and ICr on Coulson?"

"ICr? I thought these were called Night-Night guns."

"No one's called them that in years," Fitz shuddered as the birthday boy aimed the weapon directly at him. "Please put it back."

"No way, I'm keeping this. Lillian, we need to borrow your Gravitonium."

"Gravitonim?" Fitz-Simmons said together in shocked voices.

"What's Gravitonium?" Morgan asked "And why would we want it?"

"It's a highly dangerous, unstable chemical," Simmons explained.

"Yeah, that was destroyed years ago!" Fitz added "So how in the bloody blazes does our future daughter have it?"

"I learned how to make more from the old SHIELD files," Lillian answered "and you guys can't have it!" she refused, clutching her bag tight against her chest. "It took me weeks to make this stuff."

"Lillian recreated an unstable chemical?" Morgan scoffed "I don't believe it."

"Oh yeah?" the little girl reached into her bag and pulled out a transparent hazmat container, filled with a silver swirling liquid.

"Whoa," Morgan's eyes widened "What's it do?"

"It can make a baseball weigh ten tons and make an elephant float away like a balloon," Frankie told her.

"How much?"

"It's not for sale," Lillian refused. "But,"

"But?"

"But I'll let you borrow it," Lillian agreed "if you invite me to one of those science sleepovers you keep posting about on social media."

"What?" Morgan groaned as she grit her teeth "Fine."

"Yay!"

"Alright, great. Now we really should be going," Frankie advised urgently "Before you know who shows up."

"Absolutely not!" Simmons snapped.

"You must be out of your bloody minds if you think we're just going to let you just waltz out here with that!" Fitz insisted at the same time.

"Sorry about this guys," Frankie apologized right before he shot Lillian's parents "I really hope I don't get grounded on my birthday. Come on Jack."

The son of Melinda May groaned he watched his friends and Morgan head back towards the mall, mentally weighing his options. If he left the plane, there was a good chance he would die. But if he stayed on the plane and something bad happened to Lillian, he definitely was going to die.

"This is crazy," Jack muttered to himself, grabbing Coulson's ICr out his holster "Sorry about this, Dad. Frankie, wait up!"

* * *

"James, we can't leave now!" Yelena insisted, bouncing up and down on her brother's back as he and their friends hurried to the roof where their getaway plane was hidden. "Mama's going to get us ice cream!"

"We can get ice cream after we hide from the supervillian."

"But that'll take forever!" Yelena whined.

"Morgan, where are you?" James asked as he activated his Bluetooth "Your dad's sparring buddy is on his way here. Which means, we need to get out of here fast."

"_I noticed. We're on our way to Quinjet now," _Morgan promised _"Is my mom with you?"_

"Oh, sweet Christmas!" James groaned. How did he miss that? "Alright, new plan," he announced "Amadeus, you get Yelena to the jet and start the engines. Torunn and I will find Aunt Pepper."

"But what about,?"

"I'll bring you back som ice cream. Now go!" As the two youngest children headed off, James glanced over to his best friend. "You with me?"

"Verily," Torunn answered.

"Then let's Aunt Pepper before,"

_KOOM!_

The entire Mall of America shielded is eyes as the green lighting erupted into a massive burst of light, revealing a floating man in a War Machine-like suit of high-tech armor painted green, a golden ancient Chinese dragon decorating the chest, its open mouth framing the glowing amber power source in the middle of the chest, a set of ancient golden rings with glowing multicolored gems on each finger.

The Mandarin.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"Clint," Natasha stood side by side her best friend and Bobbi, having stayed together while the others split up and scattered across to search for children "Who is that?"

"Judging by my luck, I'd say that's the real Mandarin," the archer assumed as he loaded his bow, "You two go find the kids. I'll try to keep him busy."

"There is no way we are letting you fight that thing alone," Bobbi refused almost instantly.

"And there is no way I am letting my best friend and the pregnant love of life try to stay here and back me up after seeing what that guy did to Stark. We need to get the kids out of here before,"

_BOOM!_

Clint's words were cut short as an explosion rang through engulfing the Mandarin in a burst of fire. "Where did that come from?"

* * *

"Mike, what are you doing?"

Mike Peterson stood on the elevator with Daisy Johnson, his smoking rocket launcher aim at the Mandarin through the now shattered glass. "Getting payback," he answered.

The cyborg's eyes widened as the smoke cleared, revealing that the Mandarin had been completely unharmed. The Mandarin simply clenched his right fist, causing the emerald-like ring on his third finger to glow as green electrical sparks burst off his knuckles.

_KOOM!_

Mike and Daisy shielded their eyes as the Mandarin turned into a bolt of green lighting, disappearing as quickly as he appeared. "Where did he?"

_KOOM!_

The two SHIELD agents staggered back as the Mandarin appeared right in front of them, grabbing Mike by his throat and tossing him out of the elevator and crashing down into the second court.

"Mike!" Daisy shouted.

The female Inhuman thrust her good arm forward and unleashed a massive seismic blast, knocking the Mandarin out of the elevator and crashing into the floor below, only to rise to his feet a second later.

_BANG!_

The Mandarin turned around slowing as a bullet bounced off the back of his armor, turning around to see Mack and Hunter firing away with their pistols. The Mandarin pointed his left fist at the SHIELD agents, the ring on his index finger glowing bright red.

_FWOOSH!_

Mack and Hunter's eyes nearly fell out of their heads as a stream of fire burst from the Mandarin's ring, causing them to dive for the ground as the flames nearly missed their faces, screaming in agony as the fire scorched Mack's arm and Hunter's back.

_VOOM!_

The Mandarin fell down on one knee as Daisy jumped down from the elevator, blasting him with as much power as she could muster, causing tiny dents to form in his armor.

The Mandarin slowly raised his left hand and made a fist, causing the amber stone of his pinky ring to glow.

_POW!_

The hacker turned spy was sent flying across the mall as a beam light erupted from the Mandarin's ring, striking her in the stomach and knocking her to the ground. Daisy coughed up a mouthful of blood as she struggled to raise her head, pressing her good hand firmly against her now bleeding stomach. The super-powered spy attempted to crawl away as The Mandarin stood up, slowly stalking after her.

"I've heard many stories about you, Daisy Johnson," he said in a dark digitized voice "Seems that's all they were."

_ZAP!_

The Mandarin screamed in pain as a volt of electricity struck him in the back, his hands locking up in half-clenched fists as green volts of electric current arced up and down his formarms.

"Get away from her!" Lincoln shouted, marching towards the villain with both hands raised, firing as much electric power as he could.

The Mandarin reached out and grabbed the blonde agent's arm once he was in reach, squeezing tight and causing Inhuman to end his attack. "I've never heard of you."

Lincoln screamed in agony as the Mandarin slammed his fist into the Inhuman's restrained arm, breaking in half with a deafening crack.

"And I can see why," The Mandarin commented, right before a wisp of red light wrapped around his arm.

_WHAM!_

The Mandarin groaned as he was yanked down to the bottom floor of the mall, looking up to see Wanda Maximoff and Melinda May standing over him. The second female Avenger moved her finger but an inch in the air, sending the Mandarin flying into all, cracking the plaster she held him in place. "You ever hear of me?"

"Indeed I have," the Mandarin confirmed with a groan, slowing raising his arm and making a fist once the green lighting stopped.

Wanda's eyes widened in horror as a beam of amber light raced past her head, blasting a massive hole in the floor above, leaving countless lives in mortal danger. The second female Avenger released the Mandarin from her grasp as she held the floor together with her powers, urging the civilians both above and below to hurry to safety as May lead them to the exits.

As far as the Mandarin was concerned, only a fool would try to fight the Scarlet Witch. "Morgan," he called in a singsong voice as he rose into the air, "where are you?"

* * *

"How does he know Morgan?" Pepper Potts stood on the second floor near the exit with Jane Foster and Maria Hill, her heart racing at the sound of the Mandarin's voice. "How does he know my daughter?"

"I don't know. I don't know," Hill repeated "But you and Jane are no good her or the other kids if you put yourselves in harm's way."

"Morgan," The Mandarin repeated "Come out to play."

"No," Pepper's heart raced as she watched the villain float through the air across the mall, the thought of leaving her little girl alone with that monster making her sick to her stomach. "No, I can't leave her!"

"Pepper!" Hill shouted as the businesswoman ran straight into the fray "Go," she told Jane as she pointed to the exit "get help. I'll get Pepper."

* * *

"I know you're here Morgan. You and your little friends," The Mandarin's snapped his head up to the clouds as he heard the low rumble of thunder, his entire body becoming tense as he continued his search.

* * *

"Come on. Come on." Torunn Foster sat crouched behind the window display at _Nordstrom _with James_, _the daughter of Thor reaching up towards the clouds above, a tiny current of lightning arcing across her trembling fingers. The princess of Asgard let out a deep breath as she dropped her arm, her heart racing and head pounding. "I can't do it."

James placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder as she gasped for breath. "It's okay."

"It's not okay. How am I supposed to be the goddess of thunder I can't summon one bloody bolt of lightning?"

"It took your dad fifteen hundred years to make lightning without using a hammer," James reminded "Besides, trying to fight that guy was a bad idea anyway."

"We have to do something. If Mandarin finds Morgan he's going to,"

"I know," James interrupted, pulling up the _Find my friends _app on his smartwatch "Which is why need to find Morgan before he does."

* * *

"Morgan," the Mandarin repeated "Come out, come out wherever you are."

* * *

"Please tell me it's ready." Frankie Barton stood with back pressed against a large display of laptops in the _Microsoft _store, a vibranium arrow loaded in his bow.

"Working on it," Morgan answered, the daughter of Iron Man working furiously with Lillian Fitz-Simmons as they prepared a sample of gravitonium, using a half dozen tablets and laptops "We don't exactly have the best resources here, you know."

"We're going to die," Jack whispered, the son of the Calvary standing next to Frankie behind the laptops, his fingers trembling in fear as he held the ICr in his hand.

"We are not going to die," Frankie promised "We are going to hit that guy with the gravity arrow, he's going to drop like a rock in a lake and then we're getting the heck out of here."

"And go where?" Jack asked.

"Wakanda. No way that guy follows us to Wakanda," Frankie insisted.

"You want to go to Wakanda in a SHIELD plane while it still has closed borders?" Morgan questioned.

"Good point. Greenwich Village?" Frankie suggested after a moment of thinking.

"Greenwich Village," Morgan agreed, not looking up from her work "First we need to teach the Mandarin a lesson."

_BOOM!_

The children jumped as another explosion rang through the air, looking out the window to see another arrow explode in the villain's face.

* * *

_BOOM!_

"Clint," Bobbi gave her boyfriend a look of dread as she watched her boyfriend ready another shot "What are you dong?"

"Giving the kids time to make a break for it. Now you two need to go find them before,"

_KOOM!_

The three spies jumped back as The Mandarin appeared before them with a crack of lightning, grabbing Bobbi and Clint by their throats and raising him high. "You'll do."

Natasha jumped to her feet and ran to the aid of her friends, only for them and the Mandarin disappear with the crack of lightning.

* * *

"I got a text from James," Morgan informed as she and Lillian continued to work "He and Torunn are on their way here now."

"Good. Once we make this guy's suit weigh a thousand pounds, Torunn can go Ragnarok on his," Frankie's voice trailed off as he felt his stomach twist up in knots, dropping his bow to the ground as his body began to turn to dust "Not again."

"Morgan!" The Mandarin shouted as he reappeared in the middle of the air "Look who I found."

* * *

"Sweet Christmas," James' blood turned cold as he recognized the Mandarin's newest hostages: Bobbi Morse and Clint Barton.

"We've gotta get up there," Torunn insisted.

"No." James quickly grabbed his best friend's arm as she attempted to fly into battle "You could end up hitting them. Or he could use them as human shields or something. Morgan texted me that she and Frankie were working on something to take him down. We need to get to _Microsoft _and set it off."

"You have five seconds to come out or I break their necks," the Mandarin threatened "One...two…,"

"STOP!"

* * *

The Mandarin tossed Bobbi and Cint to floor in front of the _Macy's _store, teleporting across the mall and appearing in front of an eleven year-old girl standing out in the open. "Hello Morgan."

* * *

Pepper's heart nearly snapped in two as she spotted her daughter across the mall floor, standing helpless in front of the villain before her.

* * *

"Where is he?" The daughter of Iron Man's body trembled as she stared up at the Mandarin, her eyes filled with terror and anger. "Where's my daddy?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. Did the king leave his little princess all alone and unprotected?"

The Mandarin glanced over his shoulder as he felt something bounce off his back, reaching out and catching James Rogers by the collar of his jacket as he came flying in on his hoverboard, once again wearing the helmet given to him by the captain of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"What do we have here?" the Mandarin asked, ripping the hoverboard off the boy's feet, leaving him in his socks "A little knight of the USA."

* * *

"Clint," Natasha's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she watched the Mandarin raise her son high, his feet dangling in the air as he punched at the Mandarin's face with his shield. "Clint!" she repeated.

The archer groaned as he sat up on the floor, having used his body to shield Bobbi from harm, his eyes widening in disbelief as he saw the crisis at hand. "Oh, that stupid kid." Clint quickly scrambled around to find his bow, only to realize he and Bobbi landed on it when they fell, snapping the string.

* * *

"Let him go!" Morgan shouted.

"It's James, isn't?" the Mandarin recalled "Tell me James, did you really think you could stop me all by yourself?"

"Not really. That's why I brought her."

_WHAM!_

The Mandarin dropped James to the floor as Torunn Foster came flying in at high speeds, slamming her fist into his helmet, the force of her super strength causing him to stagger back in shock.

"For the glory of Asgard!" The daughter of Thor shouted, drawing her sword and slashing across the Mandarin's chest, causing sparks to fly through the air as the metals collided.

The Mandarin raised his arm in self-defense as Torunn lunged her sword at his throat, the blade bouncing harmlessly off his gauntlet.

_THWIP!_

The Mandarin's head whipped to the side as an arrow collided with the middle of his helmet, clouding his vision with synthetic webbing.

"Morgan."

The daughter of Iron Man turned around at the sound of Frankie's voice, the young archer preparing to take another shot.

"Lillian needs you to help finish the gravity arrow."

"Gravity arrow?" James repeated as he put his shoes back on, his hoverboard retracting back into the soles. "What's a gravity arrow?"

"Guys?" Torunn ducked as the Mandarin swung blindly, slashing her sword across his chest "A little help would be greatly appreciated." The daughter of Thor's eyes widened in shock as he ripped off the webbing covering his face, grabbing her by the shirt and slamming her into the wall, causing her drop her sword.

Morgan quickly pressed a button on her smartwatch, causing the drones in her backpack to fly out of the store as she ran back in.

The Mandarin staggered back as drones opened fire, the paintballs burning away at the metal of his suit.

"Frankie!" James shouted "His rings work like the Infinity Gauntlet! Don't let him close his fists!"

"On it!" The young archer quickly fired a pair of web arrows, covering the Mandarin's hands in synthetic webs.

The son of Captain America jumped to his feet and summoned his hoverboard, flying up to the Mandarin and leaning back, using the thrusters to scorch his helmet and blind him.

Torunn grabbed her sword off the ground and slashed across his face, cracking his helmet and sending shards flying.

The Mandarin staggered back with a hand covering the exposed side of his face, bringing it back down to reveal a dark, rage filled eye. The villain growled in fury as he raised his web-covered fists in the air, ready to crush James and Torunn with one blow. The children of the Avengers threw up their weapons to block the attack, their feet sliding across the mall floor as they fought to keep the Mandarin back.

"Morgan!" Frankie shouted as he fired two web arrows at the Mandarin's feet, only or him to tear through the web as he kept moving closer as the RC drones melted a hole through his armor. "I need that arrow!"

"Working on it!"

James and Torunn's eyes widened in dread as the webs around the Mandarin's hands finally snapped through the webs, grabbing the villain's hands and attempting to claw the rings off his fingers. The Mandarin grabbed both children and threw them aside, raising hand to use the power of his rings.

_THUNK!_

The Mandarin stumbled back as an arrow struck his shoulder through a chink in his armor, his now wounded arm becoming heavy.

_CRUNCH!_

He screamed out in pain the metal around his arm crumpled up like a car in a compactor, breaking his arm in two as he fell to the floor, his arm cracking the tile on impact, his feet kicking about as he tried to get up.

James took a steadying breath as he approached the Mandarin with Torunn and Frankie by his side, ready to fight again at a moment's notice. "Gravity arrow. Good plan, West Coast."

"Thanks East Coast," Frankie said as he fired a set of web arrows into Mandarin's limbs, pinning them down.

Morgan's heart raced as she walked out of the store, her hands shaking as she stood over the Mandarin, remembering what happened the last time they were this close.

"Morgan!" James grabbed his best friend as she attempted to attack the villain, her eyes on the brink of tears as her chest heaved for breath "It's okay," he whispered "He can't hurt anybody else."

"Morgan!"

"Mom?" The young genius' eyes widened as Pepper as came running into view with Hill by her side, grabbing her daughter and pulling her into a tight hug. "Mom, I can't breathe."

"Hello Pepper," the Mandarin greeted darkly, causing the children of the Avengers to gather around the businesswoman "So nice to see you again."

Pepper's heart stopped as she stared into the villain's one visible eye, a chill running down her back "Killian?"

"No. Aldrich Killian was my father."

"Uh guys?" Maria aimed her gun at the Mandarin's head as his skin turned a glowing amber, the sound of bones snapping and moving under skin making her stomach churn "What is he doing?"

"It's Extremis. It must be trying to fix the arm the gravity arrow broke," Morgan theorized.

"But it won't do him any good, right?" Frankie asked nervously "He still can't move his arm, right?"

"Morgan," Lillian called anxiously as she hurried out of the store "Can you look at this?"

The daughter of Iron Man frowned as her new science partner handed her one of the tablets they used to complete the equations to create the gravity arrow. Morgan's eyes widened as she found what Lillian wanted her to see. "I am Groot."

"Language," James scolded "What's the problem?"

"We forgot to carry the one."

After living in Avengers' Tower with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, Pepper knew that the slightest miscalculation could have disastrous results. "What does that mean?"

"It means that instead of lasting for ten minutes, the gravity arrow's going to wear off in less than,"

_FOOSH!_

Morgan's words were cut off as the Mandarin thrust his right arm straight up and made a fist, causing the pearl-like stone on his pinky ring to glow as massive gust of wind that sent everyone around him flying.

Pepper's heart stopped she watched her daughter go over the mall railing, her fingers barely brushing Morgan's as she fell out of sight.

_ WOOSH!_

A blur of gold burst through the roof of the mall, zooming after Morgan she went tumbling towards the first floor. Pepper felt the air return to lungs as Tony Stark floated into view holding their daughter, wearing a black and gold rendition of the Iron Man armor, with extra arc reactors implanted in the shoulders, arms and hips of the suit.

Morgan buried her face into her father's chest as he fired a powerful repulsor blast, sending the Mandarin plummeting to the ground floor below.

"You okay, Monkey?" The Iron Avenger asked, gently setting daughter down on the floor next to her friends.

"Uh-huh." Morgan's eyes widened as she noticed the crack in her father's chestpiece.

"Tony?"

The Armored Avenger looked up as Pepper Potts approached him with a mystified stare. "Hi honey."

The businesswoman tilted her head as she asked. "Are you my Tony, or?"

"I'm from the future. Now, be honest," he requested as his helmet collapsed into his suit, revealing his aged hair and face "Is the grey too much? I know it's better than having it all fall out, but I've been starting to notice more salt than pepper and,"

"I like the grey," Pepper interrupted, smiling at the fact that Tony was still Tony in any era "Makes you look distinguished."

"Then the grey stays. Now before you say anything, I know you're upset that I let our future daughter travel through time and get chased by a supervillain," Tony acknowledged "But I promise I have everything under control. Now, I need you, Hill and the kids to get as many people out of here while I give Killian Jr. a spanking. I'll be back in a minute. Love you three thousand."

Pepper blinked as Iron Man regained his helmet and flew off into battle "Love you three thousand?"

"It's a family expression," Morgan explained "Go get him, Daddy!"

* * *

Tony Stark felt his heart race as he flew through the air, heading into battle as his daughter and her friends cheered him on. He'd been lying if he said he didn't miss this. The rumble of the turbulence, the light of his digital display, the rapid beating of heart. But this was not adrenaline. This was anger. A rage-fueled grief. Iron Man fired a repulsor from both hands, the Mandarin returning fire with a laser from his ring. The beams of light colliding in the middle of the air as the two armored warriors flew towards each other. The armored Avenger leapt out of the way as the Mandarin lunged at him, grabbing his hands and keeping him from using his rings.

"Never seen you in a black suit before," the Mandarin commented "Still in mourning for the loss of your bodyguard?"

_BLAM!_

The second he heard those words, Iron Man attacked the Mandarin with a powerful pair of repulsor blasts, sending the Mandarin crashing back down to the first floor, with the Iron Avenger close behind him.

"His name was Happy," Tony snarled, blasting the Mandarin in the back as he attempted to stand. The Golden Avenger slammed his fist in the Mandarin's face, sending shards of his damaged helmet flying as he remembered the advice Thor gave him at Happy's funeral: _"Aim for the head."_

The future Iron Man of the future shielded his eyes as the Mandarin disappeared in a bolt of green lightning, leaving the Golden Avenger alone on the first floor of the mall.

_KOOM!_

The Mandarin appeared behind billionaire genius with the crack of lightning, only for his eyes to widen in disbelief as Iron Man spun around swinging, his arm covered in a nanite-crafted hammer.

_WHAM!_

The Armored Avenger sent the Mandarin flying with one swing, shattering what remained of his helmet, the son of Aldrich Killian landing flat on his back from the force of the blow.

That's when Tony's lungs started to burn. When his muscles started to ache. When his heart reminded him that he was getting too old for this.

_FWOOSH! _

Iron Man quickly threw up his energy shield as the Mandarin unleashed a massive blast of fire from his ring, the blunt force of the flames pushing Tony back before his suit anchored him to the floor. "I could use a hand down here Barton."

* * *

"_Feel free to jump in anytime."_

"Tony, none of our attacks work," the archer insisted, watching the battle below with Bobbi and Natasha by his side "We'd just get in the way."

"_Not with the suits I gave you."_

"Suits? What suits?"

"_The smart bands, Barton!" _Tony snapped _"Now put them on and get down here!"_

* * *

"Old man strength doesn't last forever, you know." Iron Man grit his teeth as he activated the compact missile launcher in the back of his suit, bombarding the Mandarin with a barrage of explosives, causing the villain to end his attack just as Tony's shields started to waver.

The Iron Avenger gasped for air as the Mandarin became buried in a raging fire, giving the billionaire a moment to catch his breath as his knees started to give.

"Is that all you got?" The Mandarin shouted, flying out of the smoke as he prepared to attack.

_WHAM!_

The Mandarin was sent flying as a glowing red chunk of concrete was hurled through the air like a meteor, slamming him back into the ground before he could even attempt to attack the recovering Iron Man.

Tony smiled under his helmet as Wanda Maximoff came charging into battle, using her powers to levitate a dozen food court tables and hurl them at the Mandarin.

The Mandarin screamed in anger as he fired a laser from his amber ring, the beam cutting through the tables like a knife through butter as it raced straight towards Wanda's head.

_WHOOSH!_

Iron Man directed all available power to the thrusters in his suit, rocketing over to Wanda and carrying her to safety just in the nick of time, the Mandarin's laser whizzing past them and destroying the _Burger King._

Wanda gasped. "Thanks."

"No problem," Tony managed through rapid breaths, leaning against the wall as his wounds started to flare up.

"Are you alright?"

"Getting old sucks."

"Stark."

The Iron Avenger looked up as Melinda May came running over. "Mind telling me just what exactly we're dealing with here?"

"Meet Gene Kahn," Tony introduced, staring at the Mandarin as he marched towards them "His father was Aldrich Killian. His mother was from the founding family of the Ten Rings terrorist group, the same people Stane hired to abduct and kill me back in 2008. He calls those fancy rings of his the Makulan; says one of his ancestors used them to take care of Ancient China's dragon problem. Needless to say, he doesn't like me very much.

"We noticed. Can you still fight?" Wanda asked, as the original Avenger struggled to stand upright.

"Yeah," Tony groaned "I just need a minute."

"I don't think he's going to give you one."

_ BOOM!_

The Mandarin staggered back as an arrow landed at his feet and exploded, the force of the blast knocking him back and cracking the chestplate of his armor.

_"Got to hand it to you, Stark."_

* * *

Clint Barton smiled as he stood on the third floor of the mall, now wearing a jet black tactical suit with a large purple arrowhead on the chest, his arms covered by lightweight yet durable bracers. The arrow-slinging Avenger quickly prepared to fire another explosive arrow, with ten times the explosive power than he'd ever used before today at only half the weight. "You always give the best presents."

* * *

"Just my own special way of showing how much I care." Tony smiled as Bobbi Morse came into view, wearing a black and white version of her battlesuit with gold accents, soaring across in the air with the aid of her built-in glider, striking across the back with her batons and rolling across the floor after she finished her descent, getting out of the way just before her boyfriend's latest arrow hit its mark.

The Mandarin attempted to bash the spy's head in with a mighty fist, only for Bobbi to catch the blow between her batons and push him back, knocking the Mandarin off balance. The Mandarin cried out in pain as a barrage of bullets bombarded his back, the Black Widow firing mercilessly with a pair of pistols with the speed and ammunition of assault rifles, wearing lightweight, gold-accented version of her suit that was ten times more durable than anything she'd worn before.

"Keep the pressure on him," Tony told them "Don't give him a chance to use the rings. Wanda, don't let him fly away. We can't let this fight spread to the other floors."

"On it," the second female Avenger agreed, blasting the Mandarin away he attempted to attack Natasha from behind.

"May, take these," Iron Man instructed, handing the Calvary a syringe and a Stark smart band. "Get them to Johnson. Then hold her hand until it runs its course. It's going to hurt. Once she's back on her feet, give her the smart band and tell her to head for the Quinjet on the roof while you get the rest of the team to the Zephyr."

"What?"

"Just do it!" Tony snapped "I don't have time to explain. JOCASTA, redirect power for a level three unibeam."

_"Anthony, in your current condition."_

"I know that math! Do it!" Iron Man took a deep breath as he flew back into battle, willing the nanites constructing his suit to turn his right gauntlet into a sword and cover the knuckles of his left hand with spikes.

* * *

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Morgan Stark stood on the third floor of the mall as her mother and her friends directed the civilians towards the exits, the daughter of Iron Man watching her father and the Avengers do battle with the Mandarin down below.

On the one hand, Iron Man seemed to be fighting like he was still in his prime. Not a single attack from the Mandarin ever hit its mark, the Armored Avenger dodging each one effortlessly, almost as if he was psychic. That's when Morgan remembered that this was the past. The Tony Stark of this era must've gotten a copy of the security footage, allowing Morgan's Tony to memorize every move the Mandarin was destined to make and anticipate them. But Tony still wasn't fighting Tony. The Mark 101 was designed to end fights quickly due to its multiple arc reactors, allowing the wearer to fly almost as fast as Quicksilver could run and devastating repulsor blasts that eclipsed the original Hulkbuster armor. But Tony was fighting the Mandarin hand-to-hand. Why? To keep the Mandarin focused on him and not the other Avengers?

That's when Morgan saw it, the intensifying glow coming from Tony's chest.

"Morgan?" James and Torunn frowned as they noticed the worried look on his best friend's face "What's wrong?"

"Daddy's getting ready to use the unibeam."

"So?"

"So, his main reactor is damaged," Morgan revealed "if he uses the unibeam, he could hurt himself."

Torunn didn't like the sound of that. "Plan G?"

"Plan G," James confirmed "Come on."

"Where are they going?" Jack asked he drew his friends' attention to the children heading back into the mall.

"I don't know. But there's only one way to find out," Frankie decided, chasing after them.

"Wait for me!" Lillian called.

Jack groaned as he found himself once again running into danger "This. Is. Crazy!"

* * *

"Daisy!" May's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she found the younger agent on the floor, surrounded by a pool of her own blood. The Calvary quickly took her formal pupil's head into her lap, gently rocking her shoulder to make sure she was still conscious. "Daisy wake up. Wake up!" May repeated.

The female Inhuman stayed silent as she struggled to open her eyes, her dark brown irises distant and glassy.

"Take my hand," May instructed in a frightened voice, linking Daisy's fingers with hers as she prepared Tony's mysterious injection "This might hurt."

Daisy's eyes snapped wide open as the injection hit her bloodstream, her insides feeling as they were infested with countless scurrying bugs. The hacker turned field agent screamed out in pain as the bugs settled in her stomach, clawing at her wounds from the inside out, triggering her powers and causing the entire mall to shake.

* * *

"Daisy." Bobbi felt her stomach sink as the entire Mall of America became enveloped in an earthquake. "Clint, where's Daisy? Do you have eyes on Daisy?"

As the blonde SHIELD agent became distracted, the Mandarin to the opportunity to unleash a fire attack that Bobbi had no time to evade.

_SWOOSH!_

Iron Man came rocketing in at the last minute, carry Bobbi out of harm's way as the flames turned the back of his suit red hot.

Truth be told, Bobbi was amazed Tony was still standing. This morning he crashed into Clint's backyard, and now he was doing most of the fighting despite all of his injuries. Not to mention there was no telling how long he'd been fighting before he traveled through time. She could see why they called him the Invincible Iron Man. "Johnson will be fine," Tony assured, failing to hide the pain in his voice, "Right now, I need you to full mama bear on the maniac that turned your little boy's birthday into a fight for his life."

* * *

"Hold on Daisy," May became more and more worried as the younger agent continued to scream, the walls of the mall starting to crack under the force of Daisy's power "Just hold on."

Daisy gasped for air as the pain in her stomach suddenly stopped, her heart racing and chest heaving as she wiped away the blood covering her stomach, the once gushing hole now reduced to a simple scrap that barely broke the skin. Even her arm was healed. "What just happened?"

"Stark just save your life," May realized, slapping the smart band on Daisy's wrist "He wants you to head for the roof."

"What for?"

"_I think I can answer that," _Clint chimed in through the comms. _"Pepper called. The kids gave her the slip."_

* * *

"_I got eyes on them They're heading for the roof."_

"That's where they parked their borrowed Quinjet," Iron Man delivered a massive uppercut to the Mandarin's jaw, leaving him wide open for a slash from his nanite sword "May, get your inured to Zephyr. Nat and I will deal Kahn. The rest of you get the kids out of here."

"_Maybe you should take the cushy babysitting job." _Clint suggested.

It was no secret that Tony was reaching the end of his rope. True he was still avoiding all of the Mandarin's attacks, but the close calls were getting more and more frequent. His breathing was ragged. And he kept gripping his left arm.

Tony shook his head. "I'm the one Kahn wants. As long as he's fighting with me, you and the kids have a chance to get out of here. Go now," he insisted "before the kids do something reckless." The unibeam was almost ready. He just needed a little more time.

_KOOM!_

Iron Man whipped his head around as he heard the sound of the Mandarin's lighting, villain preparing to fire his lazer ring at point blank range.

_ZIP!_

The Black Widow quickly launched a grappling hook around the Mandarin's arm and gave it a sharp yank, redirecting the blast into the floor instead of Tony's head.

"I'll take care of Stark," Natasha promised, opening fire with her pistols as soon Tony leapt out of the way. "Just get the kids out of here. And Clint, if anything happens to my babies,"

"_You'll kill me," _the archer finished _"I know."_

"Actually, I'll just break your arms. Now go."

Bobbi and Wanda reluctantly followed their orders and headed off, leaving Tony and Natasha alone with the Mandarin. The son of Aldrich Killian came charging at the Black Widow at high speeds, only for Iron Man to swoop in and knock him away, right before blasting him with another bundle of missiles. Everytime Kahn got close to one of them, Tony always put himself in between the Avengers. One of the many reasons why he was running on empty.

"He sucks at hand-to-hand. We should switch roles," Natasha strategized "I'll get in close. You hang back and cover me."

"Bad idea," Tony argued.

"I've got the better technique and you've got the bigger guns." The Black Widow insisted as she attempted to jump into battle, only for Iron Man to grab her arm and pull her back.

"_I have already lost a brother to that maniac. I'm not losing my sister too."_

Natasha didn't know what surprised her more. The fact that Tony called her sister or that he just spoke in perfect Russian.

"His rings are burning through his suit's insulation. Use the Widow's bite," Tony instructed "It'll short out his suit long enough for me to land some heavy blows. We just need to buy Clint enough time to get the kids out of here."

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" Yelena Rogers huffed as she sat on the Quintjet with Amadeus, waiting impatiently for her brother and their friends to return "My ice cream's going to melt."

"Plan G!" James shouted as he came barreling in with the rest of the children behind him.

"Where's my ice cream?" Yelena asked.

"Didn't get any. Mandarin showed up. Fighting our parents. Plan G now!" James repeated urgently.

"Finally!" Amadeus hopped out of his seat and grinned from ear to ear "Let me at him."

At that moment, Bobbi, Clint, Daisy and Wanda walked onto the jet.

"Oh, come on!" Amadeus groaned "It's my turn to fight the bad guys!"

"Sorry kids," Clint apologized "But mall time's over. Time to go."

"What about my daddy?" Morgan asked.

"He's going to keep the bad guy busy so we can, whoa!" Clint's eyes widened as the daughter of Iron Man made a mad rush for the exit. "Easy, Iron Diva."

"Let me go!" Morgan demanded, as Frankie's parents held her away from the hangar doors "My daddy can't fight the Mandarin alone!"

"He's not alone," Bobbi insisted "Natasha's with him."

"What?" James looked as if he'd told his mother was fighting an alien army "Out of my way!"

Clint groaned as the thirteen year old super soldier rammed into him with his shield. "And here I thought babysitting would be the easy job."

"_Stand down, kids." _

The son of Captain America and the daughter of Iron Man halted their escape attempt when they heard a familiar voice. "Uncle Stephen?"

"_Before you ask, no. This is not a magic spell," _the disembodied voice assured _"Just a prerecorded message being played for JOCASTA through the Quinjet speakers. Now for a quick introduction for the grown-ups. Hello, my name is Dr. Stephen Strange,"_ the recording introduced_ "Neurosurgeon turned sorcerer and proud member of the Avengers since the year 2023. Kahn didn't know that his vendetta with Stark would take him through time, but the Avengers did. Which is why I've been helping Tony prepare for this day since I officially joined the team, crafting a plan that would ensure zero casualties and get everyone to their proper time period safely. Now kids, I know that you two are worried about Tony and Natasha," _Stephen acknowledged _"Especially James and Morgan. But right now, their chances of success are at about eighty-four percent. But if any of you kids get involved, their chances drop down forty-five percent. Which means the best thing you can do to help right now is to sit down, buckle up and let them do what they do best."_

James sighed as he Morgan obeyed, prompting the other kids to do the same. "For the record, I hate this plan."

"Same," Morgan agreed.

"_Clint, Bobbi, take the controls," _Stephen instructed _"The designated rendezvous is Jane Foster's East London flat. Wanda, hand Johnson an airsick bag."_

"Okay, I don't know where Dr. Magic is getting his info from, but I do not get," Daisy's words were cut short as her stomach suddenly twisted up like a pretzel as the plane began to rise, snatching the bag out of Wanda's hand and burying her face in as she started to hurl.

"_The nanite injection that saved your life was designed to deliver Cradle level medical treatment in band aid level time,"_ Stephen explained_ "Unfortunately, Tony had to finish them after he time traveled. Which meant that the only way to keep you from getting metal poisoning was to get those out of you was to figure out a way to your body to reject them. And Quinjets don't have bathrooms."_

Daisy groaned as she pulled her head out of the bag. "How come Bobbi gets pregnant and I end up with the morning sickness?"

Clint sure hoped this Doctor Strange guy did his math right. Because if anything happened to Natasha and Tony, Pepper and Steve were going to kill him.

* * *

Tony was getting too old for this. The shift in the battle after Clint and the others left made it obvious. At least to Natasha. Without the extra cover fire, Kahn was getting closer and closer to landing a blow, the Armored Avenger now resorting to blocks and last second dodges.

And she wasn't the only one to notice. "What's the matter Stark?" Kahn asked. "Too old to keep this up?"

"I might be old," Tony acknowledged, trying to ignore the intense burning in his chest "But I still got more than enough to send you crying home to daddy. Oh that's right, I killed your daddy."

Kahn screamed in rage as Iron Man flew in for another attack, only for the Mandarin to blast with a massive laser from one of his rings, knocking the Iron Avenger out of the sky and crashing back into the floor.

Tony groaned as he sat up and gripping his still wounded ribs, the nanites that constructed his armor struggling to repair themselves after the attack. Idiot. Strange told him not to use Stark-brand snarkiness unless the others were in trouble.

_ZAP!_

The Mandarin staggered back as an electric disc struck him in the back, sending thousands of powerful volts coursing through his body and causing his hands to lock up half-clenched as green lightning coursed up and down his forearms.

The Black Widow came swooping in and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the Mandarin's face right before firing two more of the Widow's bit into his chest. Natasha quickly brandished her electric batons, unleashing a barrage of brutally, carefully placed attacks. The Black Widow smirked victoriously as the Mandarin lay beaten and battered at her feet. "And Stark said I couldn't take you head on."

_KOOM!_

As the Black Widow prepared to deliver the final blow, the Mandarin disappeared in a bolt in a green lightning, leaving her confused and bewildered until reappeared on her left and smacked her away with one punch. "He was right."

* * *

"_Get up, Anthony."_

Tony Stark lay on his hands and knees on the floor, chest burning, head spinning, lungs bursting, listening to the sound of his long dead godmother's voice through the ringing in his ears.

"_Anthony Edward Stark, get up," _JOCASTA repeated _"Your family needs you."_

Tony's eyes locked onto the battle between Natasha and Kahn, the Mandarin repeatedly teleporting around the Black Widow and landing devastating blows. "Status update on the unibeam."

"_Fully charged and ready to fire."_

Tony grit his teeth and growled as he forced himself up to one knee, the power of three arc reactors coursing through his chest as the world became engulfed in piercing blue light.

* * *

Natasha's eyes widened in disbelief as the light faded away and the dust settled, revealing a massive cone-shaped crater in front of her, starting at Tony and widening until it reached Kahn at the other end of the food court.

Iron Man took a steadying breath and started to walk across the crater, transforming his right arm into a massive cannon as he aimed it at the Mandarin, his suit scratched, scorched and cracked as massive volts of green lightning arc up and down his arms.

"Make a move," Tony dared, causing the Mandarin to disappear in a bolt of green lighting. "Good move," he gasped as the pain in his chest became unbearable.

"Tony!" Natasha ran over to her friend's side as he fell to his knees, desperately gripping his chest as he gasped for air. "Tony what's wrong? What's wrong?"

"My heart," he managed between breaths "It's my heart."

Natasha's stomach sank to her knees as she realized that his arc reactor had gone dark "Tony hang on. Hang on," she repeated in a trembling voice as she activated her comms "This is Natasha Romanoff to SHIELD. I need med-evac. Stark is down. I repeat, Stark is down! Does anyone copy?" she asked, getting only silence as he answer "I repeat, Stark is down! Does anybody copy?" Still nothing. "Tony, stay with me. Stay with me," Natasha pleaded.

"Bite me," he said in a breath that was barely a whisper.

"What?"

Tony wrapped a weak hand around the gold plated weapon around Natasha's wrist. "Bite me."

Realizing what he meant, Natasha looked away as she activated the Widow's Bite at full power.

Tony screamed out in pain as she thrust the weapon into his chest, causing a thousand volts into his body and restarting his arc reactor. "Thanks," he gasped as his heart started beating again "I needed a jump start."

"No problem," Natasha sighed as she sat down next to her friend. "It's not over, is it?"

"No," Tony confirmed "That attack just sent him off licking his wounds."

"So what's the plan?"

"First, we team up with SHIELD at their mini-helicarrier. Think you can help me get there?" Tony asked "All my muscles hurt."

* * *

Coulson groaned as his woke up from his drug-induced sleep, his mind clouded and foggy as he tried to remember how he got to the Zephyr bunks. And why Fitz-Simmons was spooning in the cot next to his.

"Rise and shine," May commented as she walked in.

"What happened?"

"You got Iced."

Fitz yawned as he and Simmons woke up from their sleep, their cheeks turning bright red at the realization of the situation they were in.

"It's uh, it's too soon for that," Fitz stammered, clearing his throat as he and Simmons jumped to the opposite sides of the cot.

"Much too soon," Simmons agreed.

"Hunter and Peterson are in serious condition," May informed "If we want them to survive until make back to base, they need medical treatment, now," she emphasized, prompting the SHIELD scientists to hurry off to work "And that's not our only problem."

* * *

"Ow."

From the second May to him that Natasha was on the Zephyr, Coulson knew he was in trouble. But before he could even begin to explain, she slugged him.

"That's for letting me think you were dead," Natasha told him, staring at him with rage-filled eyes on the bridge of the Zephyr with May.

"I deserve that," Coulson confessed, rubbing his sore jaw.

"Yeah, you do. Now where's Fury?" Natasha demanded "I need to talk to him about some of his recent director decisions."

"Fury's not the director anymore. I am."

_POW!_

Coulson groaned as Natasha gave him another blow across the face. "That's for keeping in the dark about my kids," Natasha took a deadly step toward her former handler "You don't want to know what happens if we lose them again."

"We?"

Coulson shrunk back as Natasha gave him a the Russian Death glare. "We."

"You're not the only with a child in danger," May reminded "if we want to be of any help to them, we need to remain calm."

"I just found out that the second most honest man I have ever known kept me in the dark regarding the safety of my kids and allowed me to think he was dead for three years. Do you think he would still be conscious if I wasn't calm?" Natasha asked "Clint and Bobbi took the kids in a Quinjet. Find it."

"If it's the same jet the kids stole when they broke out of our base, then we can't. They uploaded an A.I. to our system that keeping us from tracking them or reaching them on comms. Two of our men were severely injured. Which means our best course of action right now is get our injured medical treatment."

"So you're just fine with your son running to God knows where with a psychopath on his trail?" Natasha asked.

"Watch what you say," May warned.

As the two women became locked in a silent battle of wills, Natasha's phone went off, the sudden sound causing Coulson to jump in surprise.

Natasha's eyes widened silently as she checked her phone, right before turned around and left the hanger.

* * *

"Mr. Stark, please sit down!"

Tony failed to hold in a wince as Simmons forced him onto the edge of a gurney in the Zephyr's med lab. "How many times do I have to tell you kids? I. Am. Fine," he emphasized "Peterson and Hunter are the ones you should be worried about, not me."

"In the past twenty four hours you have crash-landed in the American heartland and experienced some sort of heart failure less than an hour ago," Simmons reminded as she flashed a medical light in the billionaire's eyes "At the very least, you may have a concussion."

"But I don't," Tony insisted as he hoped to his feet, stumbling slightly "I have been through far worse than this, trust me. All I need is some fresh clothes, clean bandages and quiet place to nap."

"You're going to need far more than that." Simmons eyes widened as she watched Iron Man take off his tattered shirt, revealing a massive burn on his chest and a jagged scar along his ribs that was partly covered the blood-stained medical tape around his stomach "What happened to you?"

"Twenty years of avenging happened. If you think I look bad, wait 'till you see Thor."

"Tony," Natasha called as she walked in, pausing when she noticed the battle scars on the billionaire's body.

"Enjoy the view while you can ladies," Tony teased as he put on a SHIELD sweatshirt "Because it's all you're going to get. My playboy days are over."

"Nice to know domestic life agrees with you," Natasha bantered "I need your help."

"You want to talk to James," Tony presumed, causing Natasha to give him a look of confusion.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I know everything that's going to happen today. Right now as we speak, my younger self how she a future Iron Man got into a fight with Killian's demon spawn. And by nine thirty-three eastern standard time, you and Clint will tell my younger self everything he needs to do to make sure the kids get back home in piece, which sets in motion fifteen years of planning of preparation that turns him into me. That's how I knew to aim for Laura's farm when I crashed. That's why I knew how to stay on top of Kahn when he kept teleporting at the mall. And that's how I know James has been texting you nonstop since he left the mall, trying to make sure you're okay."

"But I can't text him back," Natasha finished, her heart twisting up as she received a message from her son, this one questioning if she was even alive.

"I made each of the Mini-Avengers' smart devices myself," Tony explained, stretching out on a medical bed to take a nap "your phone's not up to 2030 security standards. Which is why I put a smartwatch in left wrist of your suit. You have sixty seconds before Kahn can trace the call." the billionaire reached up and took the spy's hand before dialed her son's number "James is about five minutes from jumping out that plane and coming after you. If you want to him to stay safe for as long as possible, say exactly what I tell you."

* * *

James Rogers checked his smartwatch as he flew on the Quinjet, waiting anxiously for Natasha to call. To text. Anything. Tony had already told Morgan that he was okay, why hadn't Natasha told James anything? He knew he shouldn't be so worried. He wasn't six anymore and he had watched his mother come home from countless missions. But those rings. Those stupid, stupid rings. They reminded James too much the stones.

The son of Captain America nearly jumped out of his seat as his Bluetooth started to ring in his ear, quickly pressing a button and answering the call. "Hello?"

"_Hi baby."_

"Mom," James let out a breath of relief "Mom, are you okay? I've been texting you."

_"I know. I know. I'm okay," _Natasha confirmed _"I'm sorry I made you worry. James, where are you? Is your sister alright? I haven't heard from her."_

"Planes make Yelena sleepy."

"_I'll keep that in mind when she's a newborn," _Natasha chuckled. _"Was she worried about me?"_

"Not as much as I was. She wasn't born when you fought the Mad Titan."

_"Who?"_

James paled as he almost revealed the secrets of the future. "Nevermind. We're on our way to Aunt Jane's house," he said, quickly changing the subject.

"_I'll be there as soon as I can. Listen baby, I don't have a lot of time to talk. So I need you to do something until I find you," _Natasha requested _"I need you to protect Yelena for me, okay? You're her big brother, so you have to protect her, whatever it takes. That's your job. Baby, I need you to promise me. Promise me," _she repeated_ "that you will do whatever it takes to protect your baby sister."_

"I promise."

"_I'll see you as soon as I can," _Natasha vowed _"I love you."_

"I love you too." James glanced over his left as he hung up the phone, his little sister sleeping soundly in Wanda's lap near the front of the plane. The son of Captain America opened up one of the group chats in his smartwatch and sent a simple text. _"Need a plan in case the Mandarin comes back."_

Amadeus, who was sitting in the back of the plane, was the first one of the children to respond. _"Plan G?"_

Frankie, who was sitting on the opposite side of the plane with Jack and Lillain, rolled his eyes. _"Smashing isn't the answer to everything, dude."_

"_He must have a weakness," _Torunn insisted, sitting on the right side of James as she sent another text_ "Morgan, can you get us a copy of the security camera footage from the mall?"_

The daughter of Iron Man scoffed as she sat in between James and Wanda. _"I'm offended you had to ask."_

* * *

"The kids are heading to London. Tell Coulson to get us Quinjet," Natasha ordered "Now."

"Yes ma'am," Fitz squeaked, running off as fast as he could. That woman was almost as scary as May.

And Simmons knew it too. "I'm...going to go check on the rest of my patients."

"You do that. Now what's the plan, Tony?" The Black Widow asked as she turned around, only to find out that the time traveling Avenger fast asleep on the gurney. Natasha sighed as she picked up a blanket and draped it over her friend's sleeping form. "This plan better work, brother."

* * *

"Sirs?"

Mallick gave Giyera an annoyed glared as he interrupted the dinner between him and the legendary Hydra god

"There appears to be a...security break in sector 14."

Mallick clenched his jaw. "SHIELD?"

"No sir. But, he wishes to speak to you," Giyera, glanced nervously at the being known as Hive "and him."

Mallick and Hive followed Giyera into a battered hallway, the floor covered with dead bodies and debris. One man did all this?

"Gentleman." The two leaders of Hydra found themselves in the presence of a young Asian man with long dark hair and matching dark eyes, wearing green suit of armor with multicolored rings on each finger "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gene Kahn. But you may call me the Mandarin."

Mallick tilted his head as he took a small step forwards. "I was told the Mandarin was nothing more than the product of Aldrich Killian's imagination."

"What began as my father's fantasy I have made reality."

Hive studied the young man curiously as he asked. "Why are you here? And how did you find this facility?"

"The how is not important," Kahn assured him "as for the why, that's an easy question: A business proposition. One that will benefit all parties. The world believes that the Avengers and SHIELD have cut ties, but they have been connected since the beginning. It was the heroics of the First Avenger that inspired the birth of SHIELD. And it was SHIELD that united the Avengers. They are one and the same. Even now."

"The Avengers broke all ties with SHIELD," Mallick insisted.

"No, they are not." Hive disputed "When Grant Ward was building his new Hydra, he was attacked by a group of SHIELD agents. Led by Clint Barton."

"Why would Clint Barton care about Grant Ward?"

"Bobbi Morse. Ward tortured Morse and left her for dead. Barton didn't seem to take too kindly to that."

Mallick's brow furrowed as he remembered. "Barton was briefly married to Morse."

"And the connections don't stop there," Kahn assured. The Mandarin made a fist with his left hand, the blue-stoned ring on his middle finger to glow, drawing the attention of the leaders of Hydra to a once blank television, where images of the blueprint for SHIELD's signature vessel flashed across the screen.

"Who do you think supplied the Avengers with the helicarrier they used to evacuate Sokovia?" Kahn asked, right before the screen shifted to a photo of Maria Hill, displaying a long list of text conversations between her and Coulson "Who do you think told the Avengers where to find Strucker and Loki's scepter? Tell me Mallick, can your base withstand the force of a Hulk? Because that's what you'll be dealing with once Coulson feels the slightest bit overwhelmed," The Mandarin promised "SHIELD. Avengers. They are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other."

Malick stared at Kahn through narrowed eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

"That we apply an age old tactic: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Together we can bring SHIELD and the Avengers to their knees."

"How?"

"As an old friend of mine once said, first we attack the heart," Kahn tightened his fist and faced the screen, revealing the image of a small auburn haired girl "This is Morgan. She's eleven years old, a technological science prodigy and the daughter of Tony Stark."

Mallick chuckled. "So that's it. You just want another shot at Stark. I'm sorry son, but we have no interest in your proposition."

"Not even for the price of a new Winter Soldier?" Kahn asked as the leaders of Hydra attempted to walk away, giving them a dark smile when they turned around "I believe Wanda Maximoff will fill that role very nicely."


End file.
